Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

[bmac]

The sad thing about the Aeroplane coaster was that the only thing that kept it from operating was some support reinforcement when the state of New York changed their insurance policies.

 

[ashtonrick]

Found a top POV of the Texas Tornado (aka Cyclone) from Morecambe - such a shame this one is gone! It was my first proper coaster (apart from the Pinfari Big Dipper at Marvels in Scarborough). Enjoy...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d46KrFFPPoA[/youtube]

 

[furie]

It's such a typical Charlie Paige design. Somewhere between a Scenic Railway and a "modern*" high thrill coaster. The Grand National is the real anomaly in his work.



*Modern for the 1930's with the new fangled upstop wheel technology.

 

[roomraider]

There are of course a ton of old Switchbacks from around the UK too.

http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/X364.htm

This is a pretty good resource on them with a good list of all the switchbacks from the UK.

This lovely image from the one at Matlock Bath shows the general idea. Built in 1889 it was supposed to be the longest in the country.

This is one of my favourites

The Alpenflug was built designed by German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmidt and opened in 1975 at Oktoberfest. But the ride suffered from the same underbanking issues as the Bat and tore itself apart.

^^ Haha GASM is also gone, they didn't really pick rides that lasted long.

Here is a pic a found awhile ago of an old Schwarzkopf concept coaster

Sorry to be a party pooper but the Figure of 8 loop was not actually of Schwartzkopf design. Although it doesn't make it less cool

The story of the figure-8-loop coaster is a bit strange. It was not designed by Schwarzkopf. This mistake appears often in books or on websites. This causes maybe in the fact, that the model looked really like a Schwarzkopf coaster!!! The concept was designed by a german showmen, Mister Pötzsch - he owns the patents for the two figure-8 elements, the standing eight and the laydown eight. It was calculated by Werner Stengel but wasn't built due to the high forces. A model of the ride has been displayed at some trade fairs at the Zierer booth. Zierer has no own track fabrication for tubular rails, so I think that maybe BHS was planned to produce it. But Anton Schwarzkopf worked some time for BHS as a consultant

Source: http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/faqHF.htm

 

[furie]

There are of course a ton of old Switchbacks from around the UK too.

http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/X364.htm

This is a pretty good resource on them with a good list of all the switchbacks from the UK.

This lovely image from the one at Matlock Bath shows the general idea. Built in 1889 it was supposed to be the longest in the country.

I find this fascinating, really fascinating. I can't remember how I came across the plethora of Switchbacks we used to have, it was either researching the Southport/Blackpool listing documents or research for an RCT3 park I was doing (though I think that park was maybe the result of that work though :lol: ).

I found lots of old pictures of places like Folkestone (the one above at Matlock Bath), Skegness area, the old pier at WSM, the big places like Southport and Blackpool - I can't remember them all now. So many of them (and then figure 8 toboggans too later) and there's just no evidence of them any more. Quite often it's just a pleasant bit of sandy beach, or a garden area or something. It's real history disappearing type of stuff. Though not as incredible as the vanishing castles I've hunted for (the Iron Age castle on Cannock Chase is a fab hunt, and Newcastle-under-Lyme's castle is in a public place, but you risk nettle stings and bramble scratches to get up it).

 

[roomraider]

I didn't know us Brits once had this coaster until recently, The Cyclone at Kursaal Funfair in Southend which looked like a nice little ride.

There is some nice footage of a coaster pretty close to the start of the video on this page

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/south ... al-funfair

Also for a little aside. check out the original Grand National Cars

How amazing are those

 

[furie]

I think that Southend's Kursaal (which was pretty famous in its day, certainly up there with Dreamland and Pleasureland) was another that suffered the double blow of the cheap package holiday and Battersea's coaster deaths. The following years (late 72-75 if I remember correctly) broke so many parks, especially those with large wooden coasters as a main attraction (as with the Kursaal). The deaths at Battersea just sealed the coffin with parks already struggling. People were very wary of the wooden coasters now, and the government forced inspections on the rides and found that a large number needed large amounts of serious repair work to bring them up to scratch. So the parks simply tore most of them down - look on RCDB for wooden coasters in the UK that demise in the 70's, there are so many between 1972 and 1975. That then killed off the parks themselves, either pretty immediately (Kursaal in particular), or the rot was put in place which meant the park would struggle without a feature attraction (Belle Vue (though slightly different circumstances and the Bobs was already gone), Spanish City, Barry Island and Wonderland in Cleethorpes. Those who maintained and kept the wood, are the parks who managed to last longest - Pleasureland, Dreamland (though I'll bet Kursaal going helped), Morecambe and of course Blackpool.

Obviously there's a lot more to it than losing their major wood coaster and as I say, most parks were already on the ropes (as were the resorts) - it was just that final nail...

From 1972 we lost:
Kursaal Scenic
Barry Island Scenic
Steel Stella (metal framed side friction toboggan - burned down though)
Wonderland Figure 8
Ocean Beach Figure 8
Spanish City "Roller Coaster"
Dreamland Velvet Coaster/RollerCoaster
Belle Vue Roller Coaster (Scenic Railway)

You could excuse it if there was a new revolution taking place (the last era of destruction on this scale was when the Switchback Railways vanished in favour of lift hill coasters) - but apart from a handful of Pinfaris coming in, there was nothing new on the horizon until Arrow, Schwartzkopf and Vekoma rose to dominance in America in the mid/late 70's. Too late really for most of the parks to replace their major coaster (though some did much later, but I think by that point it was too late).

Oh, and those Nash cars <3

I've got a postcard somewhere of the similar ones on the Southport Cyclone... Let's see...

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Holy **** those cars are amazing!!
Someone needs to invent a time machine like right now.
Stupid health and saftey

 

[roomraider]

Thanks Furie there's a lot of history here i was completely unaware of. I'd heard of the Bobs but never really looked into it. I love the turnarounds on the bobs and a lot of similar coasters of that era.

Manchester Bellevue Bobs

Giant Dipper at Hastings Park\Happyland in Vancouver.

Those turnarounds look a lot of fun and are incredibly aesthetic pleasing on the eye.

I know this video has been around a while but it makes me laugh every time. A man drinking tea on the bellevue bobs... No idea why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJBdWyjs ... ded#at=191

You've given me plenty to look into for tomorrow though.

 

[Hixee]

They look like GCI turnarounds - that's epic. :lol:

 

[furie]

I've said it before (probably even in this topic), but Troy is essentially GCI's "Ode to Fred Church".

It was claimed that all his Bobs rides (I don't think they were quite clones, but very near as damn it) were fantastic, fast, exciting and chock full of airtime.

Troy is such a close layout that it's just a modern day copy version. Troy is clearly much more extreme, but the path the coaster follows and the large, sweeping turns all shout BOBS!

Look here:

And:

Lots of info on The Belle Vue Bobs at the fantastic Magic Eye page... Let me know if you EVER leave that site, OMG, it's such a treasure trove!

http://www.joylandbooks.com/themagiceye ... /bobs2.htm

 

[Mysterious Sue]

That's a great photo I'd not seen before - I love the way the curve in the middle echoes the one on Booster Bike.
<3 Troy[super]troy[/super]

 

[Mark]

I always forget to dip into this topic but I am glad I chose today to do so. Obviously a part of my job includes the Kursaal in Southend. I still kinda love the fact that our flat is sat right above where the foundations for one of the smaller wooden coasters would have been. I wish the amusement park was still open moreso, but at least I have that little bit of it. Our curator at work showed me the blueprints which were fascinating and was gonna get me some copies. I will chase that down to upload on here.

As a little side note, in addition to the reasons that Phil has cited, there was also the fact that in the 70s Southend Council wanted a change in direction and wanted to become known as a financial hub. They wanted to lose the image as a kiss-me-quick seaside town and as a result, it would have meant that had no real issue with completely redeveloping the Kursaal amusement grounds site. It wasn't by any mean stretch the main reason, but it was certainly another one of those contributing factors. At the time they did indeed manage to woo many financial institutes in. Lloyds, HSBC (as its known know) and Access Credit Cards were all based in Southend... The Access building was actually on land from the same site. I mention it, because 20 odd years on and the council changed tack again - returning to the notion of being a seaside destination town. Had they not had this 'blip' in the 70s I daresay the council would have certainly tried to help the faltering Kursaal Amusement Park.

Unfortunately, all that is left now is the main entrance building (which used to house the Ballroom). It has a modern bowling alley and some arcades. Part of the building has also become a Tesco Metro (don't get me started!!!!!) and the other sections just sit completely empty. Part of me would really love to see some kind of Museum site in at least part of it that housed Kursaal collection items. If I had the money I would quite happily purchase one of the plots in the building for such a purpose.

 

[fretboardpyro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoBXrqHlQtU

This is literally one of my favourite video's on youtube and I adored it with "wish you were here" on. Its exactly as I remember Ocean beach being when I was a kid.

Cheers for this upload Furie, its about this time in the morning when I'm a bit lucid I remember how simple things were the most exciting. Whilst its not strictly a coaster vid. Its a fading memory shaker from my ever complicating mind!

The ride that got away for me i'm glad to see a mention here already, The Belle Vue Bobs! What I wouldn't give!

Incidentally, where and when is the Splash due to be buillt?

 

[furie]

As a little side note, in addition to the reasons that Phil has cited, there was also the fact that in the 70s Southend Council wanted a change in direction and wanted to become known as a financial hub. They wanted to lose the image as a kiss-me-quick seaside town and as a result, it would have meant that had no real issue with completely redeveloping the Kursaal amusement grounds site. It wasn't by any mean stretch the main reason, but it was certainly another one of those contributing factors. At the time they did indeed manage to woo many financial institutes in. Lloyds, HSBC (as its known know) and Access Credit Cards were all based in Southend... The Access building was actually on land from the same site. I mention it, because 20 odd years on and the council changed tack again - returning to the notion of being a seaside destination town. Had they not had this 'blip' in the 70s I daresay the council would have certainly tried to help the faltering Kursaal Amusement Park.

It's almost always down to the council pushing. Both Rhyl and Morecambe are derelict now for exactly this reason. At least Southend is commutable from London, so you can see why they may to try and make a change, but other towns it's just a disaster. You can't revitalise a place in the middle of nowhere by adding something people don't have to travel to the middle of nowhere to get anyway - you have to differentiate.

That period was so difficult for most seaside resorts and they needed council backing to help them through, or strong owners (like the Thompsons). It's very easy for a council to mess things up for attractions like this (or to help them "make a decision").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoBXrqHlQtU

This is literally one of my favourite video's on youtube and I adored it with "wish you were here" on. Its exactly as I remember Ocean beach being when I was a kid.

Cheers for this upload Furie, its about this time in the morning when I'm a bit lucid I remember how simple things were the most exciting. Whilst its not strictly a coaster vid. Its a fading memory shaker from my ever complicating mind!

Glad you like it. Sorry I had to ditch the FLoyded up version, but it was banned in several countries and just a matter of time before it became banned here too. It's a shame my Grandad didn't have much more in the way of holiday stuff on cine. He used to take us to Belle Vue, would have loved to own some footage from there, but I didn't think he got his first cine camera until the late 70's and he never used to really use it. I've got footage of my and my sister mucking around in the back garden and lots of military parades, but that was the only exciting footage I could find. I should go back and look through it all and import it and check - who knows what there is in the years and years of footage he shot?

Incidentally, where and when is the Splash due to be buillt?

Splash?

 

[sparky2u]

There's one turn on eagle's fortress that looks absolutely rediculously insane, and the rest of it looks fairly tame

Here is a POV of Eagle Fortress,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TFwjMJvnP4

 

[roomraider]

Something a bit more random.

Parque Japonés was or "Japanese Park" was one of (if not the first) amusement park in South America, Opening in 1911 and situated in Buenos Aries it featured 2 coasters.
As you might expect It's a pretty damn hard park to find pics of. I like my obscure foreign parks so I've looked this one up before.

Scenic Railway known as Tren Panoramico.

The Water Chute

Tumble Bug

The other coaster in the park was a Looping woodie along the lines of the Flip Flap Railway and Loop The Loop found at Coney Island. Apparently the park closed in 1930 although I've seen images dated 1935. As with most parks this age there's a little fuzzyness on the dates. However I believe a fire at Christmas in 1930 destroyed the majority of the rides.

If you look closely here I believe that to be the Looping ride on the left of the image.

 

[fretboardpyro]

As a little side note, in addition to the reasons that Phil has cited, there was also the fact that in the 70s Southend Council wanted a change in direction and wanted to become known as a financial hub. They wanted to lose the image as a kiss-me-quick seaside town and as a result, it would have meant that had no real issue with completely redeveloping the Kursaal amusement grounds site. It wasn't by any mean stretch the main reason, but it was certainly another one of those contributing factors. At the time they did indeed manage to woo many financial institutes in. Lloyds, HSBC (as its known know) and Access Credit Cards were all based in Southend... The Access building was actually on land from the same site. I mention it, because 20 odd years on and the council changed tack again - returning to the notion of being a seaside destination town. Had they not had this 'blip' in the 70s I daresay the council would have certainly tried to help the faltering Kursaal Amusement Park.

It's almost always down to the council pushing. Both Rhyl and Morecambe are derelict now for exactly this reason. At least Southend is commutable from London, so you can see why they may to try and make a change, but other towns it's just a disaster. You can't revitalise a place in the middle of nowhere by adding something people don't have to travel to the middle of nowhere to get anyway - you have to differentiate.

That period was so difficult for most seaside resorts and they needed council backing to help them through, or strong owners (like the Thompsons). It's very easy for a council to mess things up for attractions like this (or to help them "make a decision").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoBXrqHlQtU

This is literally one of my favourite video's on youtube and I adored it with "wish you were here" on. Its exactly as I remember Ocean beach being when I was a kid.

Cheers for this upload Furie, its about this time in the morning when I'm a bit lucid I remember how simple things were the most exciting. Whilst its not strictly a coaster vid. Its a fading memory shaker from my ever complicating mind!

Glad you like it. Sorry I had to ditch the FLoyded up version, but it was banned in several countries and just a matter of time before it became banned here too. It's a shame my Grandad didn't have much more in the way of holiday stuff on cine. He used to take us to Belle Vue, would have loved to own some footage from there, but I didn't think he got his first cine camera until the late 70's and he never used to really use it. I've got footage of my and my sister mucking around in the back garden and lots of military parades, but that was the only exciting footage I could find. I should go back and look through it all and import it and check - who knows what there is in the years and years of footage he shot?

Incidentally, where and when is the Splash due to be buillt?

Splash?

The side friction water coaster. Often referred to as The Water Splash ride.

 

[davidm]

Sort of on-topic, there was a BBC news report on TV the other day regarding losing English-heritage stuff ; the first example of which (+some olde-worlde-video) was the roller coaster at Margate;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19920894

 

[furie]

Something a bit more random.

Parque Japonés was or "Japanese Park" was one of (if not the first) amusement park in South America, Opening in 1911 and situated in Buenos Aries it featured 2 coasters.
As you might expect It's a pretty damn hard park to find pics of. I like my obscure foreign parks so I've looked this one up before.

Scenic Railway known as Tren Panoramico.

The Water Chute

Tumble Bug

The other coaster in the park was a Looping woodie along the lines of the Flip Flap Railway and Loop The Loop found at Coney Island. Apparently the park closed in 1930 although I've seen images dated 1935. As with most parks this age there's a little fuzzyness on the dates. However I believe a fire at Christmas in 1930 destroyed the majority of the rides.

If you look closely here I believe that to be the Looping ride on the left of the image.

Brilliant, I love photos like this of "lost parks". Though it's not as good as seeing the 1920's video footage of people in their Sunday best riding coasters :lol:

The side friction water coaster. Often referred to as The Water Splash ride.

If you mean the one from Rhyl, it's due to open in Dreamland, Margate, but not in the first wave (hahaha) of ride openings. The cars and mechanism were saved, but the actual track was demolished - so the thing needs to be built from scratch. My last memory of that ride was with Will and Robbeal. We hit the splash and it was almost empty so the car didn't slow. I looked at the ride op booth and the guy was sitting reading The Sun instead of operating the manual brake. It was one of those "so this is how I die" moments.

We hit the turn at massive speed and I got crushed by Rob and I thought we were honestly going to die. Nope, no idea why Ocean Beach closed

Sort of on-topic, there was a BBC news report on TV the other day regarding losing English-heritage stuff ; the first example of which (+some olde-worlde-video) was the roller coaster at Margate;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19920894

I've seen that racing coaster before Dave, it's fantastic some of the stuff that used to be out there that looked like such good fun