1988
Sydney Monorail closing down
After nearly 25 years of operation, which started off amid much controversy because of it’s eyesore, the Sydney Monorail makes it’s last journey this weekend.
The monorail’s first voyage was back on July 21, 1988, and was the free to ride for the first two week’s of operation. The first day was not without drama – hundreds of protesters swarmed the Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building demanding its removal.
Some trivia about the Sydney Monorail System:
In 1985 when the project was approved, 12 millions visitors a year are forecast. 25 years later it is actually around 4 million.
Operating speed of the trains – 33kph (20mph)
1995 – The monorail starred beside the heroes in the Mighty Morphan Power Rangers movie.
2010 – In February, a train crashes into a stationary train at the darling park station
Fare Price – in 1996 it was $3 for a single ride, in 2013 it is $5
Where is the monorail going? It has been rumoured to have been bought by the Tasmanian government to link Hobart’s waterfront to the CBD
Below are some photos taken earlier this month. Unfortunately the day chosen was not ideal – there was much rain.
RIP Leslie Nielsen
Canandian actor Leslie Nielsen, famous for the classic comedies Flying High and the Naked Gun series, passed away today at the age of 84. According to Twitter and other social media networks, he died in hospital after suffering pneumonia.
His nephew, Doug Nielsen, told Canadian radio station CJOB that the actor had been in the hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for 12 days and that “he just fell asleep and passed away” with family and friends by his side.
Nielsen starred in over 100 movies and he best known trait was for those one liners (often filled with sexual innuendo) spoken whilst oblivious to what mayhem was happening around him.
From an 80s perspective, 1988 saw the release of The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, where he played the bumbling detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin. Starring with him in the first of the trilogy was Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson.
Out of all his movies that he appeared in, this was his first starring role – and I think the slapstick was done so well that it set him up for the other two movies. Often sequels of movies are as funny as the first, but with Nielsen I think the opposite was true.