[bgwfreak]

Does anyone know what happened to the monorail after it left Carowinds?

I heard one person say it got sold to a resort in Mexico, then they sold it or scrapped it several years later.

If you can't tell, I like the history of old rides at PC B)

[Jonathan]

Yeah, I remember hearing that it was going to some place in Mexico, but I don't know if that's true and never heard anything about it after that.

[Dukeis#1]

I'm not sure if it ended up at Acapulco, Mexico either. There is not anything on the web about that city having a Monorail, that I can find anyway.

_My Thoughts_
Anyway, the Monorail's problem was that it was not a transportation device. I can see riding a Steam Train or a Riverboat around for the fun of it, since there is history and nostolga behind both of those machines, but a Monorail seems "urban".

Originally it was claimed that the Monorail went so far out of the park because EP Hall and his group were going to build a Disney-ish style hotel out next to I-77 that the Monorail would have connected to. Guess that idea was lost when they decided they did not have any business running a theme park and Carowinds was sold to Taft.

I think that they should have shortened the Monorail's track, and built more stations for it throughout the park. That way, it would have made up for the loss of the transportation the train & chairlift provided and increased ridership.
_Finished!_

Footers for the track are still all over the place. You can see them around the Goldrusher and out on the driveway to the parking lot, out by Carolina Pottery.

[CarowindsThrills]

I enjoyed riding the monorail when I was little, but it would constanlty had long lines. I do agree that it had to be removed since it provided no transportation whatsover. Does anyone know the location of the station like what now occupies it? I know it was somewhere near Vortex.

[bgwfreak]

The station was torn down completley.

If you remember, they used to have Jallopies on the bottom floor and the monorail on the 2nd floor of the building. It was torn down for Vortex, Vortex's que is about where the monorail building was.

[PoP Eye]

Actually it left after Vortex Came and its staion was at about were coin toss is

[Dukeis#1]

The station  was torn down completley.

If you remember, they used to have Jallopies on the bottom floor and the monorail on the 2nd floor of the building.  It was torn down for Vortex, Vortex's que is about where the monorail building was.

Actually, the Jalopies were back were White Water Falls is now. WWF uses it's old station as a que house. Your thinking of the <a href='http://members.aol.com/k9660r/speedway.html' target='_blank'>Speedway Cars</a>.

And, like PoP Eye said, Vortex and the Monorail were neighbors for two seasons. Vortex opened in '92, The Monorail closed in '94.

You can see the corner of the Monorail station in <a href='http://www.coastertown.com/Paramount/Carowinds/Showplace/Vortex01.jpg' target='_blank'>This Picture</a>, and it's location in this <a href='http://www.themeparkbrochures.com/maps/1993/pcar1993.html' target='_blank'>1993 Park Map</a>.

[Cephas]

That is sooo cool! Vortex's first drop went under the Monorail. They should have just left a 50 foot section over vortex so you still got a "Headchopper" effect.

[MarkD]

All I can find out about our monorail is here:
<a href='http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/TPBUM.html' target='_blank'>http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/TPBUM.html</a>
All it says is who built it and then the company was bought out.

[Chris]

[Wormy]

Wow Chris, now THAT is a bump.

http://carowindsearlyyears.com/monorail.html

[Chris]

Wow Chris, now THAT is a bump.

http://carowindsearlyyears.com/monorail.html

I miss that little thing. Is Wild Bull really still in storage? Let me go find that thread.

[Wormy]

Stealing from another thread to bring this one back up to speed:

I don't recall the Monorail going all the way out to I-77. I do remember it crossing the duck pond and going out to the access road and following it for a while before turning back into the park. You use to be able to wave at people driving into the park from out there.

Carowinds used to own all the way out to 77, the monorail went to 77. I am pretty sure the land that was brought by CF, was land that Paramount or KECO didnt buy when they brought the park.

http://carowindsearlyyears.com/monorailpath.jpg
Monorail layout as seen as Carowinds Early Years.

And that's why they call it Monorail Drive.

Figuring most of us already knew about the remaining Monorail footer(s) that haunted Vortex, out of curiosity I drove down Monorail Drive to see if there were any last remnants and was surprised to find this, which is where the track had already curved to run parallel with I-77:





I'm not sure who owns this land now, mainly parking, but I didn't see any trespassing signs and there's a bus stop nearby. Besides, the footer (and possibly one more as I type this) is clear as day from Google Earth:



Above, satellite view from 1994, courtesy of Swampfox.


And as he pointed out, following the satellite view you can clearly see the footers still left out in the old lake badlands:


Link


I assume there's no reason to wander out there without permission, so going back through some Skytower pics from August, it looks like they're still there, hiding in plain sight:




If anyone else has any other insight on this, I'm all ears. For all I know, whatever I found could have been a support for a giant sign that read:



Thanks Swampfox for your help on this!

[Chris]

Wow. Thanks for the hard work researching this, guys!

[pproteinc]

I don't know why I feel this way, but I think Carowinds should fill the lake back in. *shrugs*