Okay, So I <3 monorails. Big reminder was at the Fairfield Theater Company screening of Fahrenheit 451 last night. So much to love about that movie, and also the reminder that the book by Ray Bradbury is this year’s Big Read. Norwalk is kicking off the big read on April 5th, at NCC. But back to the monorail. Las Vegas has one, Austin has one.
And because everything old is new again, here’s a look at how the evil empire back in the day figured planned for this beautiful monorail. 
From modern mechanix: yesterday’s tomorrow today:
Swift, Overhead Trams to Be “Equipped with Floats to Cross Water Like Boats AMPHIBIAN trains that can whiz above desert sands on an overhead rail, or plunge into the water to ford a river, are contemplated by the Soviet Government in an amazing plan to tap mineral wealth in Turkestan. They are to travel three projected monorail lines of unprecedented design, totaling 332 miles in length and crossing deserts and rivers.
A single overhead rail on concrete standards could be erected at low cost along these routes, engineers estimate. Air-propelled cars with twin, cigar-shaped hulls could straddle the track and glide along it, at speeds reaching 180 miles an hour, according to calculations based on tests of models at Moscow. The cars would be equipped with Diesel-electric drive, and each one would carry forty passengers or an equivalent freight load. Where the longest of the projected routes crosses the river Amu-Daria, a mile and a quarter wide, it is proposed that amphibian cars be used. On arriving at the shore the cars would leave the overhead rail and cross the river as a boat. Soviet engineers are reported already surveying the route.
h/t boingboing
