The History of the Sydney Monorail

I apologise for how many times I mispronounce monorail
/ itsissun
/ itsissun
outro song is waving by monstahouse:
houseofmon.ban...

[@fuun17]

Sydney Monorail interests me, but wacky, silly stuff and terrible accent don't.

[@kuyans3889]

dude that's just how us australians speak, we can't help it :(

[@Jenskieez]

naur >:(

[@brx8r]

yeah I can't handle this i'm out

[@SydneyDrums]

I too have a terrible accent.. and the shame it brings

[@userreview2806]

Not much fuun

[@namenamename390]

"Australian Jay Foreman isn't real, he can't hurt you" Australian Jay Foreman: Edit: to minimize confusion; this video was excellent and made me laugh quite a few times.

[@BuildingBeautifully]

This video is so well made. I honestly hope it gets more views, I’ve pointed viewers who watched my April Fools’ video about the monorail to this video!

[@mitchellbaker4847]

Thankyou for the recommendation.

[@jace888au]

That’s how I found it :)

[@brx8r]

that was for april fools? I just thought your sense of humour was out of control

[@krissp8712]

That explains why this video popped up in my recommendations!

[@rickyrickstan563]

Just came from it

[@lmlmd2714]

There's an alternate universe Sydney where we all use the monorail to get from the bland suits of Darling Hbr to the Very Fast Train, escaping the city for wild weekend of drugged fuelled debauchery in Goulburn.

[@Bigman11x3]

For a first video, this was such a professional production, well done!

[@luciexo2821]

"Secondly the monorail was prominent to say the least. Through Sydney's narrow streets it stuck out like a monorail through a narrow street." 🤣 I can't explain why, but those two sentences almost killed me.

[@chm77777]

Back in 2000 I was upstairs at Pitt St Maccas and saw it break down right outside. Good times. One passenger was desperate to open the door. I dunno where he thought he was gonna go.

[@AheadMatthewawsome]

As a fellow Sydneysider, an awful comedian who just stares at you blankly into the ashes of the infamous Darling Park Tree, abnormally enormous Jay Foreman mega fan, and is still going through a relatively strong mourning period about this topic. *I LOVE IT!* I could literally go on all day about all the interesting jokes, including a nearby building evacuating! You’ve just gotten your 14th subscriber! And if you need anymore actors to do wacky things like being literally anything that can stare, I’d be happy to help! I’d love to see more, keep on going!

[@anguscos4506]

Oh shit I saw you at the failed port to port tour

[@alankeyes8267]

J. Foreman wants his humour back, Tom Scott wants his shirt back and I want more! Excellent video.

[@T2norway]

i’ve always been curious about the history of sydney’s monorail - this video answered so many questions! great work, subscribed!

[@aspiewithattitude3213]

The Sydney Monorail was like how Melbourne had their own version of a Tangara train from 1992 up until 2002.

[@andrewrollason4963]

Farry O'Barrell? Gladys Peri-chickenen? This monorail goes nowhere. We nearly got the Monorail transferred to Blacktown but in the end, the business case couldn't be made there either.

[@user-rs1990]

Here's some fun trivia! The monorail was seen in a brief scene of 1995's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie!

[@leokimvideo]

I'm surprised you didn't include it's special feature in the mid 90's Power Ranger Movie where even a miniature of this Sydney Monorail was built. Oh well maybe next time.

[@TheGadgetPanda]

I was a big monorail fan back in the day. I must have ridden it 20 or 30 times. But, the simple truth was that it was usually for the experience. It was always easier and cheaper to just walk. I haven't been back to Sydney since the lighttrail was built, so in my nostalgia soaked mind the monorail is still king, and any rumours you may have heard about it being torn down are nothing but speculation.

[@bendowson3124]

I’ve been thinking for a while now that someone needs to do a Sydney equivalent of Jay Foreman’s unfinished London series. It seems like someone is finally taking up the challenge.

[@ross-gg7zv]

love the details of filming by the old stations of the monorail. miss that crazy bastard

[@pedrobaillie3307]

Thanks for the video brang back fond memories of working on the monorail build and and other buildings at darling harbour quite a few times over the build we found ourselves in trouble because it broke down after taking a quick spin during work hours

[@joshuad409]

Keep this Channel going. You have a real talent to make city planning interesting. Love the Simpson’s timely interjections. Favorite line, “the monorail was prominent, suspended above Sydney’s narrow streets, it stuck out like a monorail on a narrow street” comedy gold 🏅

[@claireskrine4837]

Came from a Jay Foreman recommend, and then stayed as I realised that in the very short travelling about phase of my gap year, in the one week I accorded to the whole of Australia, I went on the monorail. I'd forgotten that I'd been on it. Now I'm sad it's gone.

[@rhapsody2612]

I was 4 years old in 2012, the year before the Monorail shut down. I went on it with my aunt and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Sadly when I went back to the City of Sydney in early 2023, I couldnt find it anywhere.

[@taranullius9221]

"Light rail" - so a fkn tram then. We've had them in the southern states for over 100 years.

[@SydneyTransportRoblox]

You are the guy who runs wattlecube at cube competitions

[@aspiewithattitude3213]

When will Sydney ever get their paddle-pop skyscraper, the giant magnifying glass and the escalator to nowhere built?

[@TheOnlyPommyman]

Loved this. Your humour works so well for this format. Bring on some more!

[@javierpina204]

Hello. To me monorail was the most wonderful gift to the city of Sydney Australia 1988, i remember conmmuting nonorail and visiting an exhibit on harmful toys from past era.

[@keithwilson1554]

It failed because it didn't connect to Central Station. I worked at the Powerhouse Museum in the 80's and when we opened we were Free and attracted Huge Visitor Numbers. Many walked or got a Bus to arrive at our Museum but if you didn't know would think the Monorail didn't exist even though we had a bridge to the Convention Centre Station. It also should have been Attached to the Buildings it went past in the City rather than having the Columns disrupting Street Traffic.

[@AShadowinthedark]

Also worth mentioning that some of the monorail maintenance facility still exists above the light rail near exhibition station.

[@itsissun]

I did go walking around there but there wasn't really anything interesting

[@8equa1sD]

Map Men made it to aus, amazing video

[@timcox7673]

if you google " The danger of sums on the run " there is a story about a student newspaper at UNSW that printed an article about the student association buying the monorail for students to move about the UNSW campus and how in fooled David Oldfield

[@marcanthonymarrufo1864]

I miss the monorail every time I walk from darling harbour to China town

[@paulstubbs7678]

Interesting, back in 1988 was the 'World Expo 88' that had a monorail, after the expo closed I never revisited the area, however I heard of the Sydney monorail and assumed that's what became of the Expo 88 one. I travelled on both the Expo88 one and also a small one at Jupiters Casio (No idea if that still exists). I have video of both, maybe I should upload them..... These trains were quite small, VERY low capacity and slow, they appeared to be only ever intended as novelty/tourist joy rides and not for serious commuter use.

[@Fluteboy]

Very well done. Nothing wrong with being inspired by one Mr Foreman. We need to know what goes on in the world!

[@mickloney9826]

Building beautifully sent me here and I’m impressed. Fantastic summary, thanks.

[@SkepticalSteve01]

The inside of a Pitt St brothel, eh? I never saw a bleedin’ thing, honest officer. Which somebody had told me.

[@Potsie]

Have to admit, the Sydney monorail was a bloody waste of time .. In the early 90's the only place I wanted to get to in Darling Harbour was "The Pumphouse bar", cos they served a beer there that was something like 13% alcohol ... and it was just easier to walk there from my University, rather then pay the 2 bucks ... Btw .. I thought that Neville Wran was the bloke at the time who approved the Monorail .. Have I misremembered that ?

[@johnabbitt690]

I was sent here by Jay Foreman. That was a great video and very interesting.

[@claireskrine4837]

Same here.

[@BoxiesAU]

Cool video mate, I went to watch some more of your content and there wasn’t any. We need more mate! 😂

[@j.kapiris]

This was fun and educational. I actually like your humour. Well done

[@electro_sykes]

I heard of plans to turn the former Chinatown station into a small Chinese restaurant, with the dining area to be located at the exact location where the old monorail station is, reusing the shell of the former monorail station

[@videorama55]

Absolutely, completely, wonderfully, brilliant--Well done!

[@santouchesantouche2873]

Hobart asked for Sydney to donate the monorail so they could link the university to the city centre. Sydney declined.

[@angusbeef9200]

Bro just dropped one banger then dipped

[@accesser]

This was good thank you I recently visited Sydney for the first time, staying near Pyrmont Bridge this video answers a few questions, The light right was amazing I'm very glad they build that eventually

[@SydneyDrums]

2:23 Ah yes the ‘Sydney Catapult’ from Town Hall to Darling Harbour in 3.5 seconds, rapid transport at its finest

[@CourtneyHelen1]

I remember staying in darling harbour in 2008 or 2009 and finding the monorail extremely user friendly as someone who had never been to Sydney before!

[@victoriantransportvideos]

This was such a good video & well made! The aussie Jay Foreman

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

I never knew it was gone till i went back about 2017ish sad.

[@74_pelicans]

Upload more, this is fire content

[@punishedpinecone4772]

>Labor in bed with the construction company wow. i'm so surprised at this totally unprecedented corruption. i'm sure nothing like this happens in [current year] (sarcasm)

[@elfstarlight]

Love the video mate!! the monorail was decommissioned the year before i started regularly spending time in the city so i only have a handful of vague memories about it 😅

[@shanedalgleish9230]

The monorail card wasn’t really “developed” by Wayne Ferguson, it was contracted out to Unicard, who at the time were mostly doing charge systems for photocopiers in University libraries. It was more like your officeworks card than you realised 😜 It was a naff system which stored the value on the magnetic stripe, reading and writing it back every time.

[@brentsummers7377]

I remember it being great but over-crowded most of the time. I also remember a monorail stopping between stations & the interior got very hot very quickly. That might have been the last time I used it. Trains & now the new trams are a much better solution.

[@wolfgang_scholl]

One of the carriages was bought by Google Australia and installed inside their Pyrmont office.

[@OboeEnterprises]

Thank you for an informative and entertaining video on the history of the Sydney Monorail. Another alternative proposal to the monorail which I recall from the mid-1980s was the so called "Laser tube Skywalk", a space age moving walkway to carry people from Town Hall to the heart of Darling Harbour. It was claimed to have a much larger capacity than the monorail, and without the detrimental effects on heritage Sydney streets and buildings. Will you be making any more videos on other transport related topics?

[@catherineallen6024]

Greetings from Berlin. Enjoyed the video. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but I want to hear _your_ voice. The information you've presented was very interesting. We rode on the Sydney monorail in 2010 and had no idea it had been demolished. Looking forward to more of your work.

[@RGC198]

Interesting video. My family and I managed to travel on this monorail in early 2000, while on a holiday in Sydney visiting relatives.

[@mst7806]

Very interesting. I was at the opening when I was a teenager and thought it was shit. Did you also know that a couple of Australian comedians dressed up like Lyle Langley and sang the monorail song during one of its last journeys? I wish I was there. Conan O’Brien is a boss.

[@Taitset]

This was great, loved it!

[@Emily-the_funny_guys]

Love the video dude, funny and educational 😅😊😂

[@carn109]

This is really well made!

[@N.S.M-oy9gm]

Great Video! 🤩

[@edes01]

I miss the monorail. It was a great way for me to get between my works offices in the CBD. I used to use it all the time.

[@andgate2000]

It was demolished because the gov sold the property with the depot/workshop to developers. It should have gone from central to quay to darling harbour.

[@adama3231]

3.5k views & 130 subs is pretty good off the back of just one video. Keep up the good work, I recon your channel will do well if you put out consistent content.

[@Emily-the_funny_guys]

I only ever rode it once in 2012 on a short trip to Sydney. I have better memories of the Sea World one as a 5 year old than the Sydney one as a adult

[@colemando-qc4io]

Damn this was so freakin good

[@Xyronium]

Your inspiration by Jay Foreman is showing.

[@patrickpirzer4080]

Very good and interesting video study about the story of the Sydney Monorail. The real problem was that Sydney choosed an Intamin monorail which is called "Light monorail" by its producer - the swiss company Intamin. In this case much to light. Very small, not enough passengers. If Sydney would have used instead an Innovia 200 monorail (by Bombardier, now Alstom) like Las Vegas did it at the same time, it could have been much better. And when You take a look at today's monorail projects like Cairo, Sao Paulo, Bangkok and the Dominican Republic You have to recognise that monorails are not dead but an important part of the new - fully electric - traffic mix.

[@Kirsed_Cubing271]

The only reason i watched this is because of wattlecube

[@Respectable_Username]

Sent here by Building Beautifully, and definitely fascinating to see the _real_ history after that April Fools joke 😊 Edit: Huh, this is your only video? Would love to see more!

[@zoltanhorvath7454]

I was lucky enough to travel a few laps with the Monorail before it was demolished. They should have reconsidered to build more Monorails in the city simply because those tracks were in the air above our head and it didn't disturbed any pedestrian or car traffic unlike light rail does! I did like the simply look of a monorail rather than those complex overhead wirings and ugly track on the ground. 🤔

[@mrbenwong86]

You get ugly supporting pillars. It is very noisy if you happen to live or work next to it.

[@jamesgrant2160]

They should turn the stations left into restaurants

[@taranullius9221]

I went to Sydney as a child. Everything I saw then doesn't exist now or was changed. This perfectly reflects what I think of Sydney. Can we ban you from having important tests and ODI matches too? Thanks.

[@jace888au]

Whilst I don’t disagree with a lot of the sentiments about the monorail, as someone who used to live in Pyrmont and worked around Pitt St mall/Martin Place, the monorail was perfectly convenient for me especially when it rained. I will admit I even took the monorail to the Fitness First gym at Galleries once. Every few months they’d have $2 days where you could prepay tickets onto the white card (upto $50 from memory). And the other key benefit even for non riders was the shadow of the rail tracks on Pyrmont bridge to give that tiny bit of shade when walking on Pyrmont Bridge.

[@mytubeview]

It is what I do when I was working in City, that shade helps a lot during sunny day.

[@jace888au]

@@mytubeview now all we have are the flags which don’t make for a continuous stretch of shade unfortunately :( but at least we don’t have the curtain of water which used to come down off the monorail tracks as the carriage passed on top.

[@mytubeview]

@@jace888au yeah, saw many tourist got wet from the waterfall created by the monorail.

[@ROCKSTAR3291]

Monorail wasn't a bad idea, just bad implementation. It worked for you and it could've worked for other people working in the city too if they'd done it right.

[@mrbenwong86]

I rode it when it open, I still have the monorail token, dad pushed me in, so I never used mine. I also rode the Expo, Seaworld and Casino monorail in Brisbane, must be in that same year.

[@thesparechannel6580]

This is so good, and also very funny to me. Fuckin one and done, ne'er to be heard from again

[@turbinegraphics16]

Would have been great to keep for tourists

[@wj11jam78]

Australian Jay Forman

[@anguscos4506]

Ahh, Jay Forman inspired I see

[@rogertull8888]

LIGHT RAIL WAS A BETTER IDEA, THE PROBLEM WITH THE MONORAIL WAS THAT IT ONLY RAN IN ONE DIRECTION. IF IT WAS IN BOTH DIRECTIONS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER SO YOU DIDN'T NEED TO DO THE ENTIRE LOOP

[@ashdog236]

The first few seconds of the video, I thought you were in London

[@adama3231]

I think the Momorail would have been successful if it had a station through Ogdenville.

[@j.kapiris]

I just looked on your channel so I can watch more of your videos....

[@samogier6362]

Aussie Jay Foreman!!!!!

[@analcommando1124]

I remember as a very young kid in the 1980s all the protests against the monorail. It was on the news virtually every night.

[@echonomad94]

7:41 when you were there, did you see the City Centre monorail station, or did it get blown up by Metropolitan

[@danielpham-yr8lo]

I wish the monorail was still in china town😢

[@thesparechannel6580]

Monorail seems really cool, and I loved it as a kid, being very upset when it closed. Objectively though, fucking terrible idea.

[@mattfairy]

Excellent video and (minor point but...) kudos for remaining friends with Jim - we all have a friend like him 😅

[@eldertaco]

More please.

[@eddieprasad108]

Ironic. Mono channel makes a video about mono rails.

[@akashkonduru2138]

Sydney now has a Jay Foreman😂

[@sakotodan]

watches map men once

[@Joe-jd4pn]

Or the ghost train as it was know.

[@rubytheartist]

Now that it’s 2023 they are getting rid of darling harbour 😢

[@everserge]

What about Ivan ooze

[@electro_sykes]

love how at 10:25 you can here a fire alarm going off in the background. Sarcastic Lol

[@RichardGeresGerbil]

I never got why they didn't expand it but I guess cost however why build something useless in the first place

[@skullyzee]

As a kiwi it pains me to say it. But very informative and funny video bro.