Why George Bennie’s invention failed to take off in Milngavie
IT was meant to herald the start of a new age in transport, much like the railways had a century earlier.
A futuristic sight – a cross between an aeroplane and a monorail – George Bennie’s Railplane was unveiled to the masses 90 years ago, on July 8, 1930, at a VIP test run on a 400ft track in Milngavie, near Glasgow.
The elegant, streamlined cigarshaped carriage was the height of luxury, with stained glass, carpets, armchairs and individual table lamps.
Sliding doors – the height of opulence – allowed people on and off the trains at elevated stations.
The Railplane was suspended from a rail and powered by electric propellers on both ends. Beneath the train, suspended 16ft above the ground, were wheels which rested on another rail and helped stabilise the carriage.
A braking system on the top rail would hold the train still at stations, and the propellers could also be reversed.
One of Bennie’s invited guests on the test run noted that: “The Railplane operated with perfect smoothness and passengers only knew the car was moving by gazing out of the window at the passing landscape.
“There was no bumping over rails, smoke or whistle shrieking. A ride in the coach is sheer delight.”
Bennie, the son of a hydraulic engineer, was aiming high. He claimed the Railplane would reach speeds of 120mph and could take passengers from Glasgow to Edinburgh in 20 minutes.
There was even talk of a London-to-Glasgow journey in three-and-a-half hours.
But Bennie’s Railplane was destined to go no further than its test track, over disused LNER sidings at the Burnbrae Dye Works. Bennie, 39 at the time of the launch, went bankrupt and died 24 years later virtually unknown.
“It never really left him,” said John Messner, who is the curator of transport and technology at Riverside Museum in Glasgow.
“He thought it could be the future for passengers and for freight.”
Bennie came up with the id in 1921 and gained a patent f the design in 1923.
Lacking formal engineering