Railplane exhibition shows it was '˜years ahead of its time'

You can enjoy a fascinating display of photographs and articles showcasing the Bennie railplane - the brainchild of George Bennie (1891 - 1957) at Brookwood Library in Bearsden just now.

By The Newsroom

Published 13th Mar 2016, 10:00 BST

The exhibition, which is part of Local History Week, runs until Thursday, March 31, during library opening hours.

Bennie, the son of an engineer, was born in Glasgow and applied for a patent for a suspended rail system which was granted in 1923.

It took until 1930 to build a prototype of the monorail system which was installed at the Burnbrae Dye Works over the LNER railway siding.

Initially there was a high level of enthusiasm for the system but Bennie was never able to gain the necessary level of financial backing to develop the idea further.

The railplane rusted away for the next 25 years until it was eventually chopped up for scraps in 1956.

Bennie’s railplane fell victim to a number of factors, not least the turbulent 1930s.