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Unsolved Coaster Mysteries

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
Thought this would be an interesting topic to do as there are a few around.
A disclaimer first perhaps a better topic for this post at least would be "Coaster Mysteries I Don't Personally Know The Answer To".... Maybe these are solved and I just don't know(very possible), Certainly all of these so called mysteries have a solution and people somewhere undoubtedly know the answers somewhere but those people just aren't part of the coaster enthusiast community.

All 4 of these are mysteries I've spent quite a bit of time looking into and come up with nothing concrete over the years.
The Missing Doppel Looping
Conklin Shows were (and sort of still are as part of North American Midway Entertainment) one of the biggest travelling carnival companies in North America. Undoubtedly their jewel in the crown was the Schwarzkopf built Doppel Looping. Originally operating in Germany from 1979 to 1983 the ride moved to the USA and toured as far and wide as Toronto and Miami and took 28 trucks to move around. Transporting massive rides like this became less and less sustainable and eventually the ride was sold in 2009 to a new park in Pakistan where it promptly vanished.

As far as I can tell the ride has never been seen again and no one seems to know where it is. As the ubiquity of the internet get ever more it seems less and less likely its now hiding at some out of the way park in Pakistan (something that was possible if unlikely even in 2009). Maybe its in storage or maybe its been melted down. I want to hope its still hiding in a warehouse somewhere but I think my heart probably knows its long gone now.

Dopple1.jpg
Doppel Looping at Miami Dade County Fair

The Phantom Boomerang
Boomerangs are everywhere these days but in 1984 they were new and interesting. There is some confusion as to which was the first boomerang although I think its generally accepted the first to be built was at Rafaela Padilla in Mexico but the first to actually open was at Bellewaerde in Belgium. Two more also opened that year at La Ronde and Moreys Pier but a little known 5th ride was also built at Tivoli Park in Gran Canaria and possibly would have opened before Bellewaerde. Although that would have relied on it ever being finished.
Palmas.jpg
The boomerang at Tivoli can be seen here in front of the Ferris Wheel.

Tivoli had a troubled history and was originally due to open 1974 but failed to open due financing problems. Several attempts were made to finish the park all he way into the 2000s until what was there was finally demolished in 2013. Source: http://www.parqueplaza.net/2013/08/las-palmas-de-gran-canaria-derriba-un.html

Now in relation to the boomerang this is where things get murky. One of those attempts was in the early 80s and the picture above shows both the Ferris Wheel and the Boomerang at the park. The Ferris Wheel is also of Vekoma origin and is in fact still operating as Grande Roue at La Ronde in Canada. There is no date on the photo above but Grande Roue opened in 1984 meaning this picture must have been taken at the latest in early 1984.

The Boomerang that was there was also dismantled at the same time as the Ferris Wheel and promptly vanished too. There are many theories as to where it went. I've read it went to Parque de Atracciones in Barcelona before it went to Six Flags New Orleans to learn to snorkel but that leaves a 6 year gap between parks which seems unlikely. My personal theory is that this went with the Ferris Wheel and is what ended up as Boomerang at La Ronde, It wouldn't be the first time a ride company has sold a New Ride which Isn't really that "New".

The problem here is that no one at Vekoma now worked at Vekoma then. And even if they had I doubt records would have been was well kept as they are now. While its not really important it is a nice little historical mystery that I like.

The Russian Spinner
in 2003 Wonder Island in St Petersburg, Russia was constructing a spinning coaster built by Maurer. The ride originally sold to Thailand (even this bit is a bit of a mystery) and apparently based on the design of Höllenblitz. The ride was fully built and then.... suddenly wasn't.

There is a clear picture of the ride on the RCDB taken in 2003 and a shot of a poster of the ride stating 2005 as the opening date. (Source: https://rcdb.com/2874.htm#p=10506 ) but by 2007 there was a shooting dark ride inside the pyramid and no sign of any Maurer spinning coaster.

Again 2005 was kind of before we really had such an idea of coasters outside the USA and Europe and again no one really seems to know what happened (and boy have i looked). In 2005 it was certainly under construction (Source: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=266569 ) and in 2007 it had gone. Did it ever open? Did it move? This one I don't think we will ever know.

The Jacksonville Beach Cyclone
This one is a bit of a personal project of mine and one that interests me a lot. But one I still haven't solved. Back in the early days of steel coasters a number of weird rides popped up that were essentially the precursors to the now ubiquitous Pinfari Cyclone rides. They were weird because they used two separate rails with a car straddling the gap between them.

Here is one in Germany taken in 1964
Jacksonville2.jpg
Source: Facebook

A number of these existed I believe at least 4. One eventually moved to Playcenter in São Paulo Brazil where it operated as Ciclone and then went travelling around South America from 1973. The ride eventually entered storage and stayed that way for decades but excitingly has just been completely refurbished and is now (or will be very soon) running again on the South American travelling circuit. (This is suddenly VERY high on my personal hit list of rides and expect a big update about this soon)

However that's all kind of incidental to this one image of a similar ride (although not direct clone) which showed up in the USA.
Jacksonville.jpg
This postcard was purchased by a chap called Kenny Rutherford on E-Bay and shows one of these rides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida in 1974. Kenny also has a memory of seeing this ride at Jacksonville Beach when he was younger.

I have checked everywhere I can think of for info on this ride but i haven't found a single other mention or picture of this ride anywhere else. This is one I am hoping will be solved soon but just requires a bit more graft :)
I have a nice spreadsheet of all sightings of these rides known to me here.

Anyway does any one else have any interesting mysteries they've never been able to solve? I'm sure there are many out there. (Where exactly is Kannonen perhaps? :p )
 

Peet

Giga Poster
Good mysteries!

I have wondered where the Euro Star transportable inverted coaster is. It used to run at Oktoberfest alongside Olympia Looping and was last seen as a permanent attraction at Moscow's Gorky Park which closed as an amusement park in 2011. The internet does yield some pictures of it dismantled (not torn down) in 2012:
11031232_10153101516720890_1646310805_o.jpg
(Source http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69985&start=10)

With it being designed to be portable you would think that they would have found a buyer for it, but it hasn't yet reappeared so it is looking increasingly likely that it was scrapped.
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
Oh, now THIS is a neat topic! I was going to mention Euro Star but @Peet beat me to it. I'm sure I'll come up with another to contribute soon.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
The problem here is that no one at Vekoma now worked at Vekoma then.
This sentence implies so much about the extent of your search and, possibly, your contact network.

Great thread, by the way! I'm afraid I don't know much about any of those coasters, so I can't be of much use, but I really appreciate the efforts of those who can dig up such historical oddities!
 

CanobieFan

Strata Poster
The Missing Doppel Looping
Conklin Shows were (and sort of still are as part of North American Midway Entertainment) one of the biggest travelling carnival companies in North America. Undoubtedly their jewel in the crown was the Schwarzkopf built Doppel Looping. Originally operating in Germany from 1979 to 1983 the ride moved to the USA and toured as far and wide as Toronto and Miami and took 28 trucks to move around. Transporting massive rides like this became less and less sustainable and eventually the ride was sold in 2009 to a new park in Pakistan where it promptly vanished.
Oooh, I have that credit! made a specialty trip down to Miami to ride it at the last US fair it ever played, the Miami-Dade Youth Fair.

Doppel Looping
by CanobieFan, on Flickr
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
This one I can help with

I have wondered where the Euro Star transportable inverted coaster is. It used to run at Oktoberfest alongside Olympia Looping and was last seen as a permanent attraction at Moscow's Gorky Park which closed as an amusement park in 2011. The internet does yield some pictures of it dismantled (not torn down) in 2012:
With it being designed to be portable you would think that they would have found a buyer for it, but it hasn't yet reappeared so it is looking increasingly likely that it was scrapped.

Eurostar was bought by a company called ParkTrade (ПаркТрейд) I can tell you that in 2012 it was still outside a warehouse somewhere in or near Moscow and was on sale for 3 million Euros. I can even give you the name, phone number and E-mail address of the guy who bought it. What I cant bloody find is where that Warehouse is precisely and boy have I tried. Its somewhere on the outskirts of Moscow we think but Moscow is a BIG place.

The satellite images for Moscow in 2012 are easily available so this one is solvable... It just requires a LOT of time and patience.
 

shaunthatkid

Mega Poster
Not much of unknown mystery but more of a wonder
What was tornado at Blackgang Chine?
I saw the company has only one other coaster in the Philippines who where the company?
And why did it fail the safety inspection and what happened to the coaster/company?
 

Chris Brown

Mr CoasterForce 2016
Love the topic!

Not so much a mystery but more of a request, I remember riding a coaster on the Isle of Wight many years ago and would love to see a picture of it. I know it exists as it’s on RCDB https://rcdb.com/1812.htm I’ve searched pretty hard and am really struggling.
 

ATTACKHAMMER

Strata Poster
Love the topic!

Not so much a mystery but more of a request, I remember riding a coaster on the Isle of Wight many years ago and would love to see a picture of it. I know it exists as it’s on RCDB https://rcdb.com/1812.htm I’ve searched pretty hard and am really struggling.

My first cred! Here I am on it!
42213565_10209735165854638_4199390667207606272_o.jpg
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
These. Schwarzkopft katapults.
Attraction.Asp

pic8_big.jpg

None are operating anymore, one is SBNO though apparently.

RCDB has some info.
"There were only 5 Schwarzkopf Katapults built. Four were built in early 1980 and opened in 1980. The fifth unit was built for Goetzke-Merkl later in 1980 with some improvements and opened the following spring.

- this was the prototype, delivered to Norbert Witten. It has done quite some traveling (Germany, USA, Netherlands, Finland) to end back up in Germany again.

- was delivered to Cecile Hoffman in France. It is now in storage with Spanish showman Paco.

- was delivered to Heittmann & Altrogge and went through former eastern Germany back to the present company Gerstlauer.

- was delivered to German showmen Edgar Arnoux & Schmidt. Afterwards it was sold to a showman in France and the ride was seen on the fair of Nancy. After that, it was sold to Holland to the company Euromill BV (made up of the following people : Joop van Rijssen, Jan Coolen en T. Boesveld sr.). These have sold the ride to Barbieri in Italy. The company Barbieri is apparently for some part owner of Mirabilandia.

- was delivered to Goetzke-Merkl in München. It went to the USA and after that it came back to Europe to find a place at OK Corral, France. These last have sold it to Leon Snep who refurbished it and who wanted to tour the Dutch and German fairs with it this season. The ride isn't ready yet though.

One of these (blue track, white supports and a gray base) appeared at a local fair in Bern, Switzerland and was owned by Swiss showman Hans-Ulrich Arpagaus."


It's not really a mystery but I occasionally wonder whether thriller will ever been seen again. Highly doubt it, but considering how well Olympia is doing (in London alone) you do wonder if it could have done the same (and also wonder how intense it was before the modifications!).
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
There's one still existing named Death Train, howeer it's SBNO
Yep, I put that in my post.

Another more personal one is where the two boomerangs (knott's one and another believed to be from pleasure island) that I saw being refurbished in the Netherlands are going. Maybe they hadn't been sold and had no buyer, who knows.

Oh, another, how much of any rides dreamland still actually has. I know some of it got deliberately (or at least suspiciously) damaged by previous land owners (king solomon's mine) but i'd be interested to see what they had. Again, not the same kind of mystery but an unsolved question that had popped into my head.

I bet there are so many rides pieces and props and things from parks that are just in random places that will never be discovered or hardly seen. Like old trains for things or iconic props/animatronics. The guy that does those dark ride videos uncovered some interesting stuff about some UK dark ride props so there must be loads of random things out there.
 
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