Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but i really like how calm the street scenes are without cars. There’s also a 1902 / now comparison video which is kind of depressing, i thought i’d rather post something nice :)

  • Baggins@piefed.social
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    7 months ago

    That’s excellent. Pity we don’t make more use of things like that now.

    Oops, just looked at the other link!

    • Humanius@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Monorails are usually not the most practical solution. In most places where you can build a monorail, a regular train is usually simpler and cheaper to build. Wuppertal has some very specific geography which causes a monorail following the path of the river Wupper to make sense, but that often doesn’t translate well to other places.

      Tom Scott made a video about it at some point:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KZLcvMQWg

      And a video on the Schwebebahn by The Tim Traveller:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFh6wFTJiQ

    • Iron Lynx@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The situations where such infrastructure technologies make sense as the best option are pretty rare. Wuppertal had the unique combination of circumstances with:

      • a decently well-connected inventor and a supportive emperor
      • the urban/metropolitan area being in a narrow valley along the river Wupper
      • steep hillsides poorly suited for rail
      • geology poorly suited for tunnelling with late 1800’s technology
      • local steel industry
      • the ability to use the river as the right of way
      • the relative infancy of electric railway propulsion

      This all contributed to a suspended railway making a lot of sense in that case.

      Today, an average problem can be satisfactorily addressed with a form of conventional rail in most situations.