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The Space Age and Monorails.
These words together paint a picture of the future in our minds.
Yet, what happens when a Space Age idea doesn't quite catch on?
Perhaps it can best be seen in the fate of Car #4.
Brian Goldman submitted
the following pictures to nywf64.com. They
show AMF Monorail Car #4 as it appears today. It once travelled
suspended over the New York World's Fair as a symbol of the promise
of things to come.
Brian writes that a Mr.
John Mecum acquired the cars following the close of the Fair
and moved them to Houston with the intention of offering them
for sale to the newly completed Houston Intercontinental Airport.
That sale did not materialize.
Mr. Mecum had them set
up at an old Navy Blimp base in Hitchcock, Texas and supposedly had one running with a turbine
engine at over 100 mph. A few years ago they were in a pile along
Highway 6 just outside of Hitchcock.
Car #4 is now located near
Alvin, Texas. Brian reports there are "unconfirmed rumors"
of five more in the area. The current owner of Car #4 plans to
add helicopter blades and turning gear to it and will use it
as a playhouse for his grandchildren.
Such is the fate of a relic
of The Space Age.
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