The Minitram would have been a driverless, automated network, involving the use of small cars each carrying around 15 passengers.
In Sheffield, the monorail would have connected the city’s shopping areas, operating on two-and-a-half kilometres of track with nine stations.
Thousands went to look at the blueprints in a public exhibition at Cole Brothers, which is now John Lewis – but the scheme was abandoned in 1975.
Parts of the Minitram route re-emerged in Sheffield’s modern tramway. However, these artist’s impressions and photos show how the revolutionary Government-backed monorail would have looked.
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1. Feasibility study
Artist's impressions were created after the Government's Transport and Road Research Laboratory commissioned a study into how and if the system could work in major British cities. This picture shows the guideway over Barker's Pool seen from the City Hall. Photo: Sheffield Newspapers Limited
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2. A model of the proposed minitram/monorail in Sheffield in the 1970s.
A model of the proposed minitram/monorail in Sheffield in the 1970s. Photo: Hawker Siddeley
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3. Ambitious figures
Developers claimed the system would eventually carry 10,000 passengers an hour and could be extended to Rotherham in one direction, Hillsborough in the other and London Road in a third. This drawing shows a guideway on The Moor. Photo: Sheffield Newspapers Limited
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4. Scepticism grows
Doubts began to surface among the public - people questioned whether the city council would be left to foot the bill, rather than the Government. Photo: Sheffield Newspapers Limited