Monorail Coasters
Victor Canfield
monorail track system. Here is what I have so far:
(from 100 Jahre Achterbahn by Frank Lanfer):
1. Mack built a ride called Meteor for Borhnhaüser & Christ in 1955.
This had three car trains, each car seating two people in-line. A
second unit went to the United States.
2. Subsequently, Mack built an enclosed monorail coaster called
Weltbummler for Heinrich Fedl. Unlike the Meteor rides, this used
single cars. Supposedly this came to the United States around 1962, and
may have traveled until the 1970s.
(from U.S. sources):
3. Ride importer Eric Wedemeyer advertised a Meteor Monorail Coaster at
the end of 1957, and reported a sale to Rainbow Gardens, McKeesport, PA,
in early 1958.
4. A monorail coaster named Flash appeared at the State Fair of Texas
in 1960. The ride was imported by Export Sales, and was said to have
originally run at the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels. Like the
Weltbummler, this ride had two lifts.
5. A monorail coaster named Meteor ran at Sportland Pier in Wildwood,
NJ. The ride appears to have been present for a few years around 1969.
Its location was occupied by the wild mouse variously named Up-N-Atom,
Flying Fish, and Flying Tiger until the mid 1960s, and later by the
Supersonic Roller Coaster (Pinfari?). Photographs on Anthony's Wildwood
Boardwalk site (http://www.angelfire.com/nj/wwbysea/) show a ride that
appears to be identical to the 1955 Meteor pictured in the Lanfer book.
I would appreciate any information that anybody can add.
mark7594
Mark
"Victor Canfield" <va...@psu.edu> wrote in message
news:3E513304...@psu.edu...
Ken Rutherford
70's. It was a triangular shaped track with the top of the track being the top
point of the triangle. The cars encompassed the track in the same fashion that
a monorail car would. I have a postcard showing this coaster but unfortunately
the trains aren't shown. I was always curious about this ride. Apparently it
didn't stay there long. I know it was there at least 2 years though.
Ken
MWS987
Ralph Latotzki
I don't know if one can count this as a monorail coaster, but have a
look by yourself:
http://ridedb.free.fr/affich_ride.php?step=coaster&totalRows_navigation=17&ride=super%20railway
Ralph Latotzki
Willards Whizzer
>
>
Beach. They are both monorails as far as I'm concerned.
Jerry
"I must be in the FRONT row." - Bob Uecker
Locoboy
> Would the old soap box derby at Knotts Berry Farm count?
Or what about the suspended coasters from Setpoint and
Caripro?
Wolf
> >
> >
> That's what I was thinking. As well as Steeplechase at Blackpool Pleasure
> Beach. They are both monorails as far as I'm concerned.
It's still two rails, though, isn't it? Just vertically mounted instead of
horizontally?
The Setpoint inverteds/suspendeds are monorails, though, I believe.
--
|\-/|
<0 0>
=(o)=
-Wolf
Steven Wilson
Victor Canfield wrote:
>
> I am looking for information on some roller coasters that used a
> monorail track system. Here is what I have so far:
--snip--
> 4. A monorail coaster named Flash appeared at the State Fair of Texas
> in 1960. The ride was imported by Export Sales, and was said to have
> originally run at the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels. Like the
> Weltbummler, this ride had two lifts.
I rode a wild mouse-like coaster at the State Fair of Texas in the
'70s. It had the strange triangular-shaped track. It looks similar to
the triangular variety of today's Intamin track -- just turned upside
down. I don't know that I would consider it to be a monorail.
I didn't know that this coaster had come from the Brussels World's Fair,
but I do have some photos of the same kind of coaster at that fair. By
coincidence, I just happened to show one of the photos to a friend last
night. Another of the photos is on a View-Master reel, with the
(future) Six Flags Over Texas Sky Hook (aka Giant Crane, High Ride,
etc.) visible in the background. I've seen a lot of material on the
Brussels Fair over the last several years -- mainly by searching for
photos of the Sky Hook and the fair's aerial transportation system of
three integrated Von Roll skyrides, one of which was relocated to
Lakeland Park (now defunct) outside of Memphis, TN.
Steven Sky Whirl.
eze...@yahoo.com http://americas.best.vwh.net/mga/skywhirl.html
Joe Schwartz
> > >Would the old soap box derby at Knotts Berry Farm count?
> >
> > That's what I was thinking. As well as Steeplechase at Blackpool
> > Pleasure Beach. They are both monorails as far as I'm concerned.
>
> It's still two rails, though, isn't it? Just vertically mounted instead
> of horizontally?
Yes, but the cars run only on the top rail. The bottom rail is simply
part of the support structure. See these photos:
http://www.joyrides.com/bpb/full/steeplechase1.htm
http://www.joyrides.com/bpb/full/steeplechase2.htm
--
Come visit Joyrides -- www.joyrides.com -- a photo gallery celebrating
the joy and beauty of amusement park rides, especially roller coasters!
David Burton
On this great pier website... http://www.angelfire.com/nj/wwbysea/
I've found some very rare pics of my all time favourite, Chance Turbo,
and some more of a HUSS Ranger on Hunt's Pier in the early 80's. I was
wanting to contact Anthony - who's site it is to try and get some more
/ larger photo's of these rides, but could not find his contact
details. Anyone know how I can email him? Also, Anyone else got some
pics of the TURBO, or HUSS Ranger?
Thanks,
Iain Hendry
news:v53789n...@corp.supernews.com...
> > That's what I was thinking. As well as Steeplechase at Blackpool
Pleasure
> > Beach. They are both monorails as far as I'm concerned.
> It's still two rails, though, isn't it? Just vertically mounted instead of
> horizontally?
> The Setpoint inverteds/suspendeds are monorails, though, I believe.
It all depends on where you draw the line on what a Monorail was.
Back in the 60's there was always the argument with the ALWEG beam monorail
that "if you replaced each of the running tyres with a steel wheel and rail,
you'd have 6 rails, and that isn't a monorail - it's a bus driving on a
beam" (I'm personally a huge fan of the ALWEG-style monorail). The Setpoint
coasters have a guide flange that has a pair of rollers pinching to control
the pitch of the wheel assembly so that it won't collide with the support
connections. The carriage orientation is still defined. It's kind of a
hard thing to judge and usually it comes down to personal opinion, I've
found...
Iain
V. Canfield
Does anybody know who made the Super Railway?
V. Canfield
I wrote:
> 1. Mack built a ride called Meteor for Borhnhaüser & Christ in 1955.
> This had three car trains, each car seating two people in-line. A
> second unit went to the United States.
That should be Bornhaüser & Christ. This unit later went to Tissot
(Switzerland), and may subsequently have also come to the U.S. I am
conjecturing that this may be the ride that was at Sportland.
Sportland's owner (Gilbert Ramagosa) was one of the importers of
European rides in the 1960s and 1970s.
> 2. Subsequently, Mack built an enclosed monorail coaster called
> Weltbummler for Heinrich Fedl. Unlike the Meteor rides, this used
> single cars. Supposedly this came to the United States around 1962, and
> may have traveled until the 1970s.
This ride was at the Worlds Fair in Brussels, but it appears to be
distinct from the Flash coaster that was in Texas (and possibly later at
Jackson Beach). The U.S. owner was Royal American Shows. Although it
may initially have traveled, it later operated seasonally at a fixed
fairground site--but I don't know the location.
Surf Dance Chris
pics of the TURBO, or HUSS Ranger? >>
I don't know if you're looking for the specific Huss Ranger at Hunt's, or just
of the Huss Ranger in general, but there's a pic of the one that used to be at
LI Adventureland (called "Looping Star") on my site. URL in my signature.
"Surf Dance" Chris,
who will ride the Flip "N" Out before any coaster!
http://members.aol.com/surfdancec
#1 Mondial fan- Super Nova, Top Scan, and Shake
"Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads!"
Iain Hendry
news:qqd55vc68632krb5m...@4ax.com...
> The whole point was....IF they replaced the running tires......
>
> Monorail...means ONE rail. And Alweg type monorails run on ONE huge
> concrete rail.
My car runs on one HUGE wide pavement. So it's a Monorail?
(I'm not geting into an argument about what's a Monorail or not. It's far,
far too subjective, moreso than the Superman debate.)
FWIW, Yes, I believe ALWEG is Monorail.
Iain