Coaster accident!
Jan Richardson
local news stations (channel 12) interrupted a program. They said that
a man was in "grave" condition after a rollercoaster accident at Joyland
amusement park. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this park, it
is in Wichita, Kansas.
The coaster is wooden and is pretty old (actually very old)! When I
heard about the accident, the first thing I thought of was a boy who had
stood up on this coaster several years ago, was thrown out, and died.
I assumed that this man had done the same thing (after un-fastening
his seatbelt)! Boy, was I wrong!!!
It seems that the man (he died), was a maintenance worker who was on
the ground. He was wacking the weeds under the coaster with a weed
eater. He was at the bottom of the first hill, and had apparently been
bending over. When he stood up, his head was BETWEEN THE TRACKS!!!
The train hit him (ouch). Luckily, there were only 6 people on the
train when this happened, and not all of them saw what happened! This
happened just about 3 hours or so.
There was a man who had seen what happened, and had described it on TV
(the best he could). It made me a little quesy (that's VERY hard to do)
just thinking what this man had seen!
Now, I have just one question. Who in the h*** would actually stand
UNDERNEATH a rollercoaster (at it's lowest point), and take the risk of
something happening? I've seen some pretty stupid people, but this
takes the cake! I know the owners of Joyland, and I know that they
would not put any of their employees lives in danger!
I'll try to post more info when I get it.
Jan
Dana Schwartz
>Well, I was working on my genealogy files tonight, when one of the
>local news stations (channel 12) interrupted a program. They said that
>a man was in "grave" condition after a rollercoaster accident at Joyland
>amusement park. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this park, it
>is in Wichita, Kansas.
(snipped the rest of Jan's early-breaking news on this story)
Perhaps "local" details can be provided by Jan if and when more
information becomes available about this tragic accident. Here's what
I found on the news wire service (if someone else has posted this,
forgive me):
***************************************************************************
WORKER DIES AFTER BEING HIT BY ROLLER COASTER IN WICHITA
The Associated Press
WICHITA -- A maintenance worker was struck and killed by a roller
coaster at the Joyland amusement park, officials said.
The 35-year-old victim's name was not released.
The man was trimming grass under the ride Thursday evening when he
stood up between the tracks and was hit in the head by the coaster
which had just crested a hill, police said.
None of the coaster's passengers were hurt and the ride was
immediately closed.
Stan Nelson, Joyland's owner, said the man had worked at the park on
and off for about eight years. It is not park procedure to work near
the coaster during its operation, Nelson said.
"I don't want to fault him or anything like that," Nelson said. "He
was trying to do something. Why he was there, that I don't know."
Nelson said the coaster would likely reopen Friday.
"There's nothing wrong with the coaster, it's just an unfortunate
incident that happened," he said.
**************************************************************************
This is an awful story, period. But it's really tragic that it
happened at a small, family-owned and operated park like Joyland. I'm
saving my TR about my visit there last May for the off-season, but
would like to mention that Dooley and I spent quite a bit of time with
Stan and Margaret Nelson (and their General Manager, Steve McClosky).
They are really great people, with a gem of a small park. I'm sorry
that this unfortunate accident happened. That poor grounds keeper.
What was he thinking? (And the riders who witnessed this -- how
awful!) This is so sad.
Dana Schwartz
doo...@ix.netcom.com
Dana Schwartz
JOYLAND WORKER STRUCK, KILLED BY ROLLER COASTER
The 35-year-old man had been trimming weeds when he was hit in the
head by roller coaster.
By Joe Rodriguez
The Wichita Eagle
A 35-year-old Joyland maintenance worker was killed Thursday when he
was struck in the head by the amusement park's roller coaster.
The worker, whose name was not released, had been operating a weed
trimmer near the first drop of the roller coaster about 6:20 p.m.
"As the coaster came over the top of the hill," Wichita police Sgt.
Gavin Seiler said, "it came down and struck him."
Those who were on the ride told police that it appeared as though the
man tried to duck. Seiler said that there were about six people on the
ride and that they weren't even sure that the man had been hit. After
they told ride operators that there was someone near the coaster,
workers went to look.
After discovering the man had been struck, the ride was immediately
closed.
Randy Ledbetter said he was waiting in line to ride the coaster when
operators shut down the ride. He went back outside the park to look at
what happened.
"He was basically kind of curled up under the track, right in the
middle of the track where it happened," Ledbetter said.
Stan Nelson, Joyland's owner, said the man had worked at the park, on
and off, for about eight years. He said it was not park procedure to
work near the coaster while it was operating.
"I don't want to fault him or anything like that," Nelson said. "He
was trying to do something. Why he was there, that I don't know."
Nelson said the coaster probably would be reopened today.
"There's nothing wrong with the coaster, it's just an unfortunate
incident that happened," he said. "It's certainly one of those things
that shouldn't happen."
There has been one death related to the roller coaster in the history
of Joyland. That death also had nothing to do with faulty structure.
In May of 1977, a 7-year-old boy died after falling from the roller
coaster while standing up during a series of hills on the ride.
TinaCurtis
train when this happened, and not all of them saw what happened! This
happened just about 3 hours or so.
There was a man who had seen what happened, and had described it on TV
(the best he could). It made me a little quesy (that's VERY hard to do)
just thinking what this man had seen!>>>
Oh my gosh, those poor people who were in the train.. I would be totally
traumatized if I were riding it and that occured.. (Or, heck, even SAW it
happen in general..)
I feel sorry for the guy too, that's an awful thing to have happen to you. :(
Tina
Scratchy6
station...right over the ride op. THAT would traumatize me. If it was just a
head poking up, probably not as much...but slowly approaching a full figure and
knocking it over would scare the heck out of me.
-CHRiS
***********************************************
http://members.aol.com/scratchy6/
Hey, why ride Batman when you have THE KIDDY COASTER?
***********************************************
Tim Long
You're in the train, getting major air on the bunny hills (at that time), and - out
goes a passenger! Ejected!
Tim
Scratchy6 wrote:
--
Tim Long
tl...@vcnet.com
ThriRidInc
Sincerely,
Randy Hallford (ThriR...@aol.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Riddler's Revenge Rides: 85 total
Shawn Ramsey
> You're in the train, getting major air on the bunny hills (at that time), and - out
> goes a passenger! Ejected!
I think both were pretty traumatic for all the riders who saw either of
these incidents. But it would depend on where the person who was ejected
from... I mean if she was in the very back no one except her riding
partner(if any) would have seen it. Too bad Collosus didn't have
seatbelts at the time, for both the coasters sake, and the person who
was killed...
Paul Hurford
Seems
fitting.
Jan Richardson wrote:
> Well, I was working on my genealogy files tonight, when one of the
> local news stations (channel 12) interrupted a program. They said that
> a man was in "grave" condition after a rollercoaster accident at Joyland
> amusement park. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this park, it
> is in Wichita, Kansas.
> The coaster is wooden and is pretty old (actually very old)! When I
> heard about the accident, the first thing I thought of was a boy who had
> stood up on this coaster several years ago, was thrown out, and died.
> I assumed that this man had done the same thing (after un-fastening
> his seatbelt)! Boy, was I wrong!!!
> It seems that the man (he died), was a maintenance worker who was on
> the ground. He was wacking the weeds under the coaster with a weed
> eater. He was at the bottom of the first hill, and had apparently been
> bending over. When he stood up, his head was BETWEEN THE TRACKS!!!
> The train hit him (ouch). Luckily, there were only 6 people on the
> train when this happened, and not all of them saw what happened! This
> happened just about 3 hours or so.
> There was a man who had seen what happened, and had described it on TV
> (the best he could). It made me a little quesy (that's VERY hard to do)
> just thinking what this man had seen!
>
Eric Gieszl
things people do, not people who perform maintenance and have an accident.
Now playing chicken everyday with the coaster would be something for the
Darwin Awards.
Paul Hurford wrote:
--
Eric Gieszl
--------------------------------------------------
Ultimate Rollercoaster
<http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/>
Roller Coasters - Theme Parks - Thrill Rides
Coastrgirl
bean...@hotmail.com
walkyo...@gmail.com
Can’t believe this post from 20 years ago came through on my email digest today! When I saw it I immediately went to Google to search for a coaster accident that I assumed happened today. I couldn’t find any breaking coaster news so I came back to read the post again and then I npriced it was dated 1998! Yet it showed up in my email today!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😜😜😜😜
Myselfalso
> Can’t believe this post from 20 years ago came through on my email digest today! When I saw it I immediately went to Google to search for a coaster accident that I assumed happened today. I couldn’t find any breaking coaster news so I came back to read the post again and then I npriced it was dated 1998! Yet it showed up in my email today!
>
> 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😜😜😜😜