Never Was Magazine

[Never Was Magazine]

In 1952, Dutch television reported on a monorail test conducted near Cologne, Germany by the company Alweg.

Funded by a Swedish industrialist, Alweg’s bullet-shaped train reached reached a velocity of 135 kilometers per hour. According to the newsreel, the final train was meant to reach a speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

This particular train was never built, but Alweg did help construct Disneyland’s Monorail System, which opened in California in 1959, as well as the Seattle Center Monorail, which opened three years later. Both remain operational.

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

Alweg 1952 monorail test near Cologne, Germany

1952 German Monorail Test #dieselpunk In 1952, Dutch television reported on a monorail test conducted near Cologne, Germany by the company Alweg.

[Never Was Magazine]

Norman Bel Geddes was an American industrial designer and futurist who had a major influence on the streamlined Art Deco design of the 1930s and 40s.

Few of Geddes’ designs came to fruition. A notable exception was the General Motors Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, also known as Futurama. (Click here for a collection of photographs from that year’s fair.)

One of his unrealized designs was “Airliner Number 4,” a nine-deck amphibian airliner that he sketched in 1929.

Airliner Number 4 elevation by Bel Geddes

Airliner Number 4 by Bel Geddes

Airliner Number 4 deck plan by Bel Geddes

Image from Fantastic Plastic Models

It would have been a mammoth airship, inspired by Germany’s Dornier Do X flying boat. Geddes wanted to seat up to 600 people and provide areas for concerts, deck games, a gymnasium, a solarium — even two airplane hangars!

He put the cost of building the aircraft at $9 million, which would be something like $125 million in today’s money.

Bel Geddes’ Fantastical Airliner #dieselpunk Norman Bel Geddes was an American industrial designer and futurist who had a major influence on the streamlined Art Deco design of the 1930s and 40s.

[Never Was Magazine]

New York’s Nightmare of a “Dream” Airport

Proposed New York City Airport, from Life magazine, March 18, 1946 This may have seemed like a good idea pre-9/11, but the idea of building a huge airport in Manhattan would surely be laughed out of the room nowadays. I’m not sure if it was more realistic half a century ago, but this is what Life magazine published in March 1946: A “dream” airport for New York on the Hudson River shore. It is an…

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[Never Was Magazine]

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Richard Davies (Wales) - Portfolio

[Never Was Magazine]

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Everything Mr Feastingonroadkill loves about Pulp. Encapsulated in one magazine cover.