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Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

Hyde

Matt SR
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File under "what's old is new again"; Cedar Point has released a POV of Magnum XL-200. While a new recording, it features the return of Magnum's original final tunnel effects (around 2:10). Originally, the effect was sound effects (same as used now) and arches of twinkling lights tracing the interior tunnel. While the park is using modern LEDs for the effect, it is a fun return after a ~20 hiatus of the special effect!

 

Niles

Giga Poster
Drone view of Nemesis


Not sure were to post this but it's a coaster that is old to me. Great to see it from these angles ? vid is a bit chopped up compared to the recent helix one but i still like it.

Also they got a bit close to the track at 0.22 ?
 

zeroyon04

Roller Poster
Wow, what a great thread! So much good info, pics and vids.

There is some recently made public video footage of Japan's first ever "permanently installed" roller coaster, called "陸上波乗" (Rikujyo Naminori / "Land Wave Rider"). The footage was taken sometime in the 1930s:
The roller coaster was in the shape of a boat, and just went around in a large oval, while going up and down some very small bunny hills. It was installed at an amusement park called "Tamagawaen" in 1925. I'm not sure how long the coaster operated for, but the park closed down in 1979.
Here is a map of the park sometime in the 1930s to very early 1940s:
img_0 (1).jpg
Also, a picture of the ride:
img_0 (2).jpg

In case you were wondering what Japan's first *ever* roller coaster was, it was a temporarily installed (in 1890) roller coaster in Ueno called "自動鉄道" (Jidou Tetsudo / "Automatic Railway"), It was installed for the "第3回内国勧業博覧会" (3rd Domestic Industry Expo).
I haven't found any pictures of it, but there are a few drawings of it here: http://blog.livedoor.jp/misemono/archives/51898407.html


On another note, there were pics of the following coaster earlier in the thread, but here is a somewhat odd video of the "Giant Coaster" that used to be at Fuji-Q Highland.
Skip to 07:00 to see the start of the coaster leaving the station.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen an escape artist trying to "escape" from a roller coaster while it is on fire before...
The video was originally shot in 1973 (later rebroadcasted many years later, which is why you hear Indiana Jones music), and the escape artist's name is a famous person from Japan called "Hikita Tenko".
 
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davidm

Strata Poster
Wow Giant Coaster was a bit of a snooze-fest wasn't it? No wonder they had to set it on fire to up the excitement a little bit.

Nice find tho' - even if the 'stunt' was a bit crap, I mean you don't see the train after the "crash" so any old shenanigans could have happened then :)
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
Some lovely old footage of the lost Schwarzkopf double loop at Kobe Portopialand in Japan from 1981 can be seen in these videos

Including a shakey full POV at around 1min in this video


Found this and quite a lot of other footage of Double Loop while looking for evidence of a coaster missing from the RCDB. There was a small coaster on the eventual site of BMRX before BMRX existed. It can be seen top right here.

Portopia Extra.jpg

And bottom left here

KobeP.jpg

Not sure what model or make it is but looks powered to me anyway.

One of almost 50 old coasters I've found that existed in Japan in the past so keep an eye out on RCDB as Duane hopefully adds them (those who keep an eye on such things will have seen a number of old expo coasters go up recently already)
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
Not sure what model or make it is but looks powered to me anyway.
It doesn't look powered to me. There seems to be a set of booster wheels on the 'left' side of the layout, that appears to absent after the highest point of the layout.
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
It doesn't look powered to me. There seems to be a set of booster wheels on the 'left' side of the layout, that appears to absent after the highest point of the layout.

Small Figure 8 layout, powered by booster wheels... Looks like an early SBF spinner to me...
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
It doesn't look powered to me. There seems to be a set of booster wheels on the 'left' side of the layout, that appears to absent after the highest point of the layout.

Ah you are right. Not a major coaster either way but one i didnt know at all existed until unearthing that old map.
 

Hixee

Flojector
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I love the elephant sized hard hat they made for it.
Not just that, but that the guy standing below the support - exactly where it'll land if it fell - doesn't have one! :p
 

cocoa

Mega Poster
holy crap thanks for that orphan rocker video! I've wanted to see that for so long. That guy is so lucky... orphan rocker would probably be up there with my most sought after rare experiences.
 

spicy

Giga Poster
That Orphan Rocker video is amazing. Also proves that someone actually got to ride the thing as I remember that being a debate way back.

No surprise it never opened either, those transitions look like they were created with a sledgehammer - Not to mention the restraint is literally a padlocked chain ?
 
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