On this page
This monorail coloring page shows a sleek three car train gliding above a city. The cars sit on one wide concrete beam that rises from left to right, held up by four tall pylons. Riders smile from the windows. Below them, a Ferris wheel turns between tall towers, and two kids wave from a path in the park.
Plan on about forty minutes for the whole sheet. Ages five to eleven will have fun with it. The towers can take a while because of all the windows, so feel free to do them in stages.
Bright city colors
Monorails look clean and modern, so keep the train simple. White on top with a blue skirt and a thin yellow line works well. Try silver or pale pink if you want something different. The beam and its pylons can stay light gray.
The towers are where you can play. Pale pink, lilac and sky blue feel like a city from a storybook. Leave the windows white, or color them yellow for an evening look. A gold dome on the far left adds a little shine.
Give the Ferris wheel cabins a mix of bright colors, with each cabin different from the next. Use a fresh green for the park and a warm tan for the path.
Tips for this monorail coloring page
- Color one tower at a time, and stop when you get tired.
- Pick a pattern for the windows, such as every other one dark.
- Use a ruler to keep your color along the slanted beam.
- Leave a white shine on the front window of the train.
Colored pencils win on this page. Marker can bleed across the small gaps between the windows, and that would blur the rows.
A tip for the Ferris wheel: start with the small cabins around the rim, then fill the big wheel with one pale color. Go gently here. The thin spokes run across it, and heavy coloring can hide them from view.
One rail, two ways
The word monorail tells you the idea: one rail. The train runs on or hangs from a single beam, which keeps it up above the traffic. There are two main kinds. Straddle monorails sit on top of the beam, like the one in this drawing, and they are the most common design today. Rubber tires press against the top and both sides of the beam.
The other kind hangs below the track. The oldest monorail still running is the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, Germany. It opened in 1901, and its cars still swing along under a steel frame. In the United States, Disneyland opened the first monorail with daily service in 1959. You can see photos of both in this article on the monorail.
Build a beam
Here is a cheap test. Make a train car from a small box and hang it over a ruler, so one side sits on each side of the edge. Now it can slide along but will not fall off. Your child has just made the idea of a straddle monorail with a box and some tape.
Map a route next. Draw a long line through your town and mark five stops, such as school, the park and a favorite ice cream shop. Which ones should come first? Kids who love planning will spend longer on the map than on the picture.
Teachers can use this drawing for a city of the future lesson. What else would a future town need? Students can add a flying bus or a roof garden to the blank sky at the top.
More city rides
This monorail coloring page lives with our train coloring pages. Go underground with the subway train, or pick up the pace with the long nose of the bullet train.
Questions
How is a monorail different from a regular train?
A regular train runs on two rails on the ground. A monorail runs on one wide beam, and this one rides on top of the beam, high above the street.
Where are the wheels?
They are tucked inside the blue skirt that wraps around the beam. You can see three round wheel covers on each car.
Is this page very hard?
The train and the park are easy. The rows of windows on the towers take patience, so color them in one go or leave them white.
