Wombles to lead monorail's 50th birthday celebrations

The oldest working monorail in England is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a visit from novelty pop act The Wombles.

In Summer 1974, Remember You're A Womble reached number three in the charts and the costumed characters starred on Top of The Pops.

Orinoco, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Madame Cholet and the rest of the Wombles of Wimbledon Common came from a hugely-popular BBC children's tv series, narrated by the late Bernard Cribbins.

They were picked to open the cutting-edge monorail at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, arriving in the museum's Rolls Royce Silver Ghost 50 years ago.

Now they have all returned to mark the anniversary.

The museum had been designed to accommodate the track running through the roof of the building, giving passengers a view of the exhibits laid out below.

In the 1960s, there had been monorails at Butlins holiday camps in Skegness and Minehead. But after a few years, they were withdrawn.

At Beaulieu, in the New Forest, trials were held in 1972 with a prototype battery-powered vehicle that held only four people. Two years later, the full railway was ready to go.

Exactly half a century on, the same two trains have been renamed Monty and Mary.

They run on the same elevated track, serving two stations.

The 10-minute journey moves at a gentle 12mph, with each train carrying 51 passengers, plus the driver.

Monorails never really found a future. Around the world, two steel rails have proved consistently better than one.

But Beaulieu's track remains popular with tourists.

Quirky, original and, like the Wombles, marking a moment in time.

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