Key Takeaways:
- The Seattle Center Monorail opened in 1962 for Seattle’s World’s Fair and is still running on the same beam, with the same original trains.
- John Glenn and Elvis Presley both rode the Red Train in 1962, the same one you can board today.
- The Monorail passes directly through the Frank Gehry-designed MoPOP building on its way to Seattle Center.
- The ride takes about two minutes, tickets are affordable, and no advance planning is required.
Seattle built a vision of the future for the 1962 World’s Fair, and most of it is still standing. The Space Needle. The Pacific Science Center. And the Seattle Center Monorail, still running above the city on the same concrete beam it was installed on over 60 years ago. For history buffs, it is not just a way to get somewhere, it’s a must-do Seattle experience.
Built for a City That Believes in Tomorrow
In 1962, Seattle hosted the Century 21 Exposition, the World’s Fair that put the city on the international map. The theme was the Space Age, and that was not just a slogan. Sputnik had launched five years earlier. Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in April 1961, and John Glenn orbited Earth just two months before the fair opened. Seattle was not watching the Space Age from the sidelines. The Century 21 Exposition (as in the 21st Century) was the city’s answer: we are ready for what comes next.
The Space Needle went up, forever changing the city skyline. The Pacific Science Center was built with its unmistakable white arches. And a West German company, ALWEG, funded and constructed an elevated monorail system at its own expense to carry visitors between downtown Seattle and the fairgrounds. The Seattle Monorail opened on March 24, 1962, nearly a month before the fair itself. It carried more than eight million passengers, paid for its own construction through ticket sales, and turned a profit before closing day.
More than 60 years later, it is still moving people. On the same beam. In the same trains.
The Trains You Ride Are the Ones From 1962
This is the part that stops most people. The Blue Train and the Red Train, currently in service, are the original 1962 vehicles, built by ALWEG in West Germany and shipped to Seattle for the World’s Fair. They have been refurbished over the decades, but they are not replicas or replacements. They are the real thing.
For context: Disneyland opened its own ALWEG monorail in 1959, but it was built at 5/8-scale, a shrunk-down park version about two-thirds the size of a real transit system. Seattle’s was the first full-scale commercial monorail in the world, built at true operating size to move real city crowds. Disneyland has replaced its entire train fleet multiple times since. Seattle’s trains have outlasted all of them, still running on the same concrete beam they were installed on during construction in 1961.
When you board, you are stepping into a vehicle that carried World’s Fair visitors, astronaut John Glenn (who rode shortly after his Friendship 7 orbit in 1962), and Elvis Presley, who filmed scenes for the MGM movie “It Happened at the World’s Fair” on the Red Train that same year. The history is not behind glass. You are sitting in it.
What Is It Like To Ride?
Two minutes, 30 feet above the street, at up to 45 miles per hour. As you approach Seattle Center, the Monorail passes directly through the Museum of Pop Culture, the Frank Gehry-designed building whose curving metal exterior wraps around the tracks. Then you pull into the station and emerge steps from the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, and Chihuly Garden and Glass.
PRO TIP: Look up photos of the 1962 World’s Fair before you board. It is a great way to compare Seattle then and now as you travel the route.
Two Minutes of History You Will Not Forget
The Seattle Center Monorail is the oldest operating urban Monorail in the United States. It has never stopped running. While other cities tore down their World’s Fair landmarks, Seattle kept theirs and kept them working.
Two minutes is all it takes. But you will be thinking about it longer than that. The Seattle Center Monorail runs daily between Westlake Center in downtown Seattle and Seattle Center. Plan your ride at seattlemonorail.com.
Additional Sources:
ALWEG. Wikipedia, citing The ALWEG Archives (alweg.de) and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
