Editing Monorail (section)

===Early years===
The first monorail prototype was made in Russia in 1820 by [[Ivan Elmanov]]. Attempts at creating monorail alternatives to conventional [[railway]]s have been made since the early part of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|title=Finchley Society Annual General Meeting Minutes|author=Finchley Society|url=http://www.finchleysociety.org.uk/Newsletters/1990s/1997/6-97.pdf|date=1997-06-26|access-date=2009-04-03|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204205022/http://www.finchleysociety.org.uk/Newsletters/1990s/1997/6-97.pdf|archive-date=2008-12-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=June 25 - Today in Science History|author=Today in Science History|url=http://www.todayinsci.com/6/6_25.htm|access-date=2009-04-03}}</ref>

The [[Centennial Monorail]] was featured at the [[Centennial Exposition]] in Philadelphia in 1876. Based on its design the [[Bradford and Foster Brook Railway]] was built in 1877 and ran for one year from January 1878 until January 1879.

Around 1879 a "one-rail" system was proposed independently by Haddon and by Stringfellow, which used an inverted "V" rail (and thus shaped like "Λ" in cross-section). It was intended for military use, but was also seen to have civilian use as a "cheap railway."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1376851?searchTerm=cheap+railway#pstart72945 |title=NLA Australian Newspapers - article display |newspaper=Brisbane Courier |date=27 November 1878 |publisher=Newspapers.nla.gov.au |access-date=2010-09-11}}</ref> Similarly, one of the first systems put into practical use was that of French engineer Charles Lartigue, who built a line between [[Listowel and Ballybunion Railway|Ballybunion and Listowel]] in Ireland, opened in 1888 and lasting 36 years, being closed in 1924 (due to damage from Ireland's Civil War). It used a load-bearing single rail and two lower, external rails for balance, the three carried on triangular supports. It was cheap to construct but tricky to operate. Possibly the first monorail locomotive was a [[0-3-0]] [[steam locomotive]] on this line. A high-speed monorail using the [[Lartigue Monorail|Lartigue system]] was proposed in 1901 between Liverpool and Manchester.<ref name="nla">{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10566928?searchTerm=monorail#pstart327212 |title=NLA Australian Newspapers - article display |newspaper=Argus |date=17 August 1901 |publisher=Newspapers.nla.gov.au |access-date=2010-09-11}}</ref>

The [[Boynton Bicycle Railroad]] was a steam-powered monorail in [[Brooklyn]] on [[Long Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]]. It ran on a single load-bearing rail at ground level, but with a wooden overhead stabilising rail engaged by a pair of horizontally opposed wheels. The railway operated for only two years beginning in 1890.

The [[Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad]] was a monorail on which a matching pedal [[bicycle]] could be ridden. The first example was built between [[Smithville, Burlington County, New Jersey|Smithville]] and [[Mount Holly Township, New Jersey|Mount Holly]], New Jersey, in 1892.<ref>{{cite book
| title = Iron rails in the Garden State: tales of New Jersey railroading
| author = Anthony J. Bianculli
| publisher = Indiana University Press
| year = 2008
| isbn = 9780253351746
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oif8ddRyYMcC&q=hotchkiss%20bicycle%20railway&pg=PA86}}</ref> It closed in 1897. Other examples were built in [[Norfolk]] from 1895 to 1909, [[Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach|Great Yarmouth]],<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/100_years_of_fun_and_thrills_1_500609
| title = 100 years of fun and thrills
| date = September 10, 2009
| newspaper = [[Eastern Daily Press]]
| access-date = 2012-01-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055403/http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/100_years_of_fun_and_thrills_1_500609
| archive-date = March 4, 2016
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> and [[Pleasure Beach Blackpool|Blackpool]], UK from 1896.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/332284/hotchkiss-bicycle-railway-great-yarmouth-c-1900/
| title = Hotchkiss Bicycle Railway, Great Yarmouth C. 1900
| publisher = FotoLibra
| access-date = 2012-01-19
| archive-date = 2011-11-19
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111119111242/http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/332284/hotchkiss-bicycle-railway-great-yarmouth-c-1900/
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>