Very interesting coaster photo here!!

Too bad the seller has no specific description of this coaster's location but I think most any enthusiasts would find it interesting. I rode a similar style tracked coaster at Jacksonville Beach, FL back in the 70's. I still have a postcard of it. The only difference was that it was double-tracked racer. BTW, are there 6 people in that tiny car??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6111192771

Actually i have seen this picture before in one of my rollercoaster books. I think it said it was the first steel coaster ever made in Europe. I guess there selling it ebay now.

You can find a very similar picture on page 20 of the book Roller Coaster: A Thrill Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines by Robert Coker. The caption on the picture lists it as operating in Paris, France in 1956. I am not positive though, that the two pictures are of the same coaster.

This used to be a mobile coaster called "Monorail". Manufacturer and year are a mystery. I doubt that it is the first european steely, this would have been a Pinfari model from 1955, using a more common track design.

Mack did a monorail coaster before that which had a sort of wooden block track.

There is indeed a monorail coaster travelling in France and Luxemburg to this day.
Pictures of "Super Railway" here:
http://wipeout.free.fr/coaster/12.htm

I am not sure if the "Super Railway" is a new ride or if it is just rehabbed.
I remember riding a monorail coaster in germany in the seventies and it looked more like the one pictured on ebay.

On the other hand, the ebay picture shows a banked helix, while "Super Railway" has no banked track. The one I remember had no banking as well which caused freaky laterals in the turns.

I mentioned in the original post that I had a postcard of a double-tracked racer monorail coaster that I rode at Jacksonville Beach back in the early 70's. Here is a scan of that postcard. It may be hard to tell on the postcard but it does have the same triangular shaped track as the ebay photo. It also ran single cars.

http://members.aol.com/wecorhsc/jax_monorailc.jpg

That my friends is a picture of the coaster that had tubular track before Arrow ever thought of it.

Matterhorn was first, so it must be true.

Chuck, who says there were suspended coasters in the teens, and looping coasters in the 1890's *** Edited 8/2/2004 2:12:22 AM UTC by Charles Nungester***

now if we just knew for sure who the manufacturer was......

EDIT:
I have researched the possible manufacturer of the coaster in question.
A dutch company called "Nijmeegs Lasbedrijf" is said to have built a steel monorail coaster in 1959. (And you thought "Gerstlauer" was a tongue twister :) )
The owner was well known dutch showman and ride manufacturer Jan Bakker.
He himself has later built a larger version of the steel monorail.
Bakker has built many Paratroopers, Monster/Polyps (and other Chance-like rides) in the sixties and seventies.
I don´t know if he sold many to the USA, though.

The ride in Florida looked great. Like a Steeplechase on drugs.

I googled for Jacksonville Beach, since rcdb doesn´t list it, but the park seems to be long gone. I found a pic of an fairly impressive woodie which stood there in 1927 on the official Jacksonville website. *** Edited 8/2/2004 12:30:00 PM UTC by tricktrack***

Oh my gosh!.... That thing looks like a torture device. LOL! Imagine that poor lady's (front seat) bruise once that thing hit the brakes.

Actually it looks like upside down intamin track. Ha ha!

Shaggy

There is an inscription on the front of the car on the eBay photo. It's almost impossible to make out unless you had the orginal and could scan it in at a high resolution. That may hold the key to the actual manufacturer though.

ebay photo:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6111192771

And there is little to no doubt that the old Jacksonville Beach racing version was the same manufacturer.

Jax Beach 1974:
http://members.aol.com/wecorhsc/jax_monorailc.jpg

I don't know... The bracing on both postcards is different. On the eBay one, it is only horizontal and vertical. On the Jax Beach one there are diagnol braces.

^Hmm, the bracing looks almost the same to me with the exception that the Jax Beach is slightly wider to accomodate the racing track. There are other similarities too besides the track. The light post that stick up around the edges. *** Edited 8/3/2004 12:20:49 PM UTC by swampfoxer***

Sorry, I mean that the bracing on the track itself, not the bracing to hold up the track.

Yes, the Jax photo has the diagonal bracing. That only adds more mystery to the puzzle though.

Maybe there were 2 manufacturers of these monorail coasters. It reminds me of how similar Vekoma and Arrow track bracings were with only suttle differences. *** Edited 8/3/2004 3:59:43 PM UTC by HarryTraver***