ABC13 Vault: Did you know Houston had two monorails?

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Did you know Houston had two monorails, one in the 50's and one in the 60's?

Our latest find from our old film vaults at Channel 13 show the only moving images of the Skyway monorail that was built in 1966 at Houston International Airport, now known as Hobby.

It was designed to take passengers from the terminal to the parking lots at a speed of 10 miles an hour. The 20,000 pound car with 55 seats rolled on Goodyear truck tires and cover the 1500 foot track in five minutes. It was built in 1966 at a cost of $500,000 and was a two year experiment to test public reaction.

But it never caught on and was abandoned and eventually torn down.

We also found images of the remnants of Houston's first monorail, the Goodell monorail, which debuted on February 18, 1956. The monorail began at Arrowhead Park, an auto racing park near Fondren and Main Street, and went back and forth on a third of a mile long track at 10 miles an hour. It was built at a cost of $100,000, nearly a million in today's dollars. It only lasted here seven months.

It was dismantled in September of 1957 and moved to Dallas for the state fair and remained at fair park until 1964 when it was dismantled for good.

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