Any idea how old these monorail play sets are? Not the current box design

ryankski

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 30, 2016
So I found some monorail play sets for sale that are not in my area, but semi close to my brother. I'm trying to work out the details for him to pick them up. They are used and working except one play set is missing Pluto and one track elevator. They are asking under $135 for the set which includes 2 monorail play sets (1 for sure is Disneyland & since they look the same I would say they both are), 1 Contemporary resort, 1 box of strait tracks and 2 boxes of curved tracks. It seems like a good price as a new play set is around $100 and I think the Contemporary is around $50. Just curious how old these are as my Googling skills weren't providing relevant information. Also are older play sets worth anything based on age? I'm assuming not. Also did these ever only come in one size scale? Thanks for any helpmonorail.JPG monorail 2.JPG
 
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As far as I can tell the Mark VII models arrived sometime in 2012. There are red and orange models (still waiting for blue), the age doesn't seem to have much to do with the value.
They only come in one scale, somewhere between HO and O, maybe closer to S. All the Disney models (WDW, Disneyland Mark V and VII) are about the same size and ride on the same beam. They also all have the same (ugly) green headlights. ;)
 
It definitely looks like a good price to me too. We have 3 different monorails that we bought around 5 or 6 years ago and the boxes look like that. I don't remember which color ones we bought when. Sorry I didn't have more info than that.
 
Thanks for the info. After posting this I found some info that made it seem like the Disneyland monorail I posted was released at the D23 Expo in 2011 so the time frames above make sense. Hopefully I can get my hands on the set. We shall see
 


At the price this looks like a good way to get into the model monorail club! Then the add-ons and upgrades begin... ;)
 
At the price this looks like a good way to get into the model monorail club! Then the add-ons and upgrades begin... ;)

It's sad that the sets use to be under $80, now they're $95... and nothing's changed with them. It's the exact same toy. And unless anythings changed, they've only had blue and orange for sale for quite a few years now.
 
What is even more sad is that the new monorails seem to run slower and "porpoise" more due to out-of-round drive wheels. The gearboxes make more noise from poorly meshing (poorly molded) gears.
I bought some new monorail sets (to modify) last year and they are the worst running ones I have.
Maybe the tooling is wearing out?
 
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When I got the new DLP monorail I couldn't believe how loud and terrible it sounds. I love the option of the remote control, but it just sounds bad...and of course ends up getting pushed along by the first series monorails. LOL
 
When I got the new DLP monorail I couldn't believe how loud and terrible it sounds. I love the option of the remote control, but it just sounds bad...and of course ends up getting pushed along by the first series monorails. LOL

The Mark VII has a different gearbox than the WDW models, the first driven gear is a crown gear and they are not known for being quiet. Since it is the first driven gear it is also turning at the highest speed which makes the noise worse. The WDW models have a worm gear which turns slower and is usually quieter.

WhisperJet does a great job at providing a quiet drive system for the Mark VII but it is a major rework. I am designing something that does not require much of a change but will eliminate the noisy crown gear. I hope it does not take 5 months and 7 design changes like WhisperJet did! ;)
 

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