Los Angeles County Fairplex Monorail

California / Oddities / Los Angeles County Fairplex Monorail

History

Opened in 1962 with one mile-long underhung monorail circling the core of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona. As built the system constructed by the American Crane and Hoist Company had fourteen cars with twenty four seats each. The original equipment was not constructed with air-conditioning and were plagued with electrical problems. Despite the novelty of the view the ride could be uncomfortable in the summer months. In time the cars were equipped with air-conditioning and operation continued with no extraordinary problems. A single accident occurred in 1979 when a rear car from the monorail derailed, thankfully there were no injuries to the passengers.

The line was rehabilitated in 1990 as part of a 25 million dollar revitalization of the L. A. Fairplex. These improvements included replacing the original cars with 10 new 40 passenger capacity cars built by Arrow Dynamics, a new station and improved maintenance facilities. The newly acquired cars proved too heavy for the track system despite the upgrades made in the 1990s and cracks in the rail were observed. Infrastructure problems were not limited to physical issues, the control systems of the cars were prone to intermittent control failures. The system was removed after the 1996 fair season and the equipment was sold, eventually finding use in China for the planned Holland Park (EuroAsia) in China. Financial trouble prevented the park from completion and the cars were stored out of service as late as 2010.

Reference Material Available Online:

Maps.

The Route of the L.A. County Fairplex Monorail for Google Earth. by Andrew Brandon.

Photographs.

Collected L.A. County Fairplex Monorail Photographs.

Images collected from private collections, libraries and historical societies.

Video.

Los Angeles County Fair Monorail (1988) Courtesy The Monorail Society.

California / Oddities / Los Angeles County Fairplex Monorail