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Big One Re-Tracking @Pleasure Beach

Nicky Borrill

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Smithy said:
There's two very distinctive groups within the GP category you could be referring to with regards to PMBO - those who have ridden it and those who haven't.

For many people, it's as iconic as the Tower is and when they think of Blackpool it's one of the first things they think of, they associate with the town, and in many cases they won't even remember how it rides or the quality of it. It's the aesthetics of it that, to my mind, give it more reason to be seen as a classic than the actual ride itself. And I guess it depends how you're defining it as a classic. Is it a classic ride for enthusiasts? Of course not. For the GP? Possibly.
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That’s actually very true to be fair, especially the part about ‘those that haven’t ridden it.’ It will be symbolic of Blackpool to them, as much as the tower is.

Another reason it earns the icon classification, I guess.

Still isn’t a classic though. Not by any recognised definition of the word at least.

The closest definition that could apply is… “judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind.” Surely even those that love it are not suggesting it’s the highest quality and most outstanding hyper?

It’s certainly not “typical of it’s kind.” Other than being tall, I’ve never ridden a steel hyper like it.

I suppose if you consider coaster construction a form of art it could be… “a work of art of recognized and established value.” But I think that might be reaching… 🙈

Since we’re studying English today… Here’s the meaning of Icon, and why I think PMBO is a ‘Blackpool Icon’ is a much better fitting description.

Icon - “a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.”
 
H

Hypercoaster_fan_uk

Roller Poster
I wonder have BPB ever thought of having Chance rides or Vekoma re-profile and re-track the whole coaster? Seeing as those two companies have experience re manufacturing arrows track anyway ? Surely It would make sense to bring the track design into the 21st century. If it was possible to actually get some airtime on the hills and not get thrown around the train through every transition it might actually be a marathon-able coaster instead of riding once every few years to see how bad it's getting. I don't know why they aren't replacing the first drop and turnaround also, these seemed to be awful in summer 2020, and maybe some new trains wouldn't hurt either.
 
Sandman

Sandman

Giga Poster
I don't think BPB can ever realistically budget in a re-profile, especially from an established manufacturer.
There's probably a reason it's being re-tracked by a relatively unknown, local engineering contractor.
I also have a feeling (correct me if i'm wrong) that Grand National re-track/maintenance was done in-house.

I'm also calling it that Valhalla will be a vastly scaled down 're-imagining'.
Icon has busted them.
 
CrashCoaster

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
Hypercoaster_fan_uk said:
I wonder have BPB ever thought of having Chance rides or Vekoma re-profile and re-track the whole coaster? Seeing as those two companies have experience re manufacturing arrows track anyway ? Surely It would make sense to bring the track design into the 21st century. If it was possible to actually get some airtime on the hills and not get thrown around the train through every transition it might actually be a marathon-able coaster instead of riding once every few years to see how bad it's getting. I don't know why they aren't replacing the first drop and turnaround also, these seemed to be awful in summer 2020, and maybe some new trains wouldn't hurt either.
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Sandman said:
I don't think BPB can ever realistically budget in a re-profile, especially from an established manufacturer.
There's probably a reason it's being re-tracked by a relatively unknown, local engineering contractor.
I also have a feeling (correct me if i'm wrong) that Grand National re-track/maintenance was done in-house.

I'm also calling it that Valhalla will be a vastly scaled down 're-imagining'.
Icon has busted them.
Click to expand...
^This. Money unfortunately doesn't grow on trees. On another note:-

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480533648176820231

New track at the Taziker plant. And I can't help but notice it looks as if some more profiling alterations have been made.
 
JoshC.

JoshC.

Strata Poster
If you're the type of person who has several thousand pounds spare, Blackpool are selling old Big One track:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1481279425543090181

Some items have already sold out and disappeared from the website (for example, they were also selling upstop wheels for £30).

Given that they're selling a 15cm length piece of rail (not full piece of track) for £150 (ie £10 per cm), I wonder what the rate for the track prices is?
 
Sandman

Sandman

Giga Poster
JoshC. said:
If you're the type of person who has several thousand pounds spare, Blackpool are selling old Big One track:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1481279425543090181

Some items have already sold out and disappeared from the website (for example, they were also selling upstop wheels for £30).

Given that they're selling a 15cm length piece of rail (not full piece of track) for £150 (ie £10 per cm), I wonder what the rate for the track prices is?
Click to expand...

More fool anyone buying this overpriced scrap metal.
Probably funded the re-track through hardened fanboys alone.
 
rob666

rob666

Hyper Poster
Season starts in a month...forty quid, and Big One, National and Valhalla still closed.
Sounds like a bit of a rip off to me.
Bring back the March 20p rides...ok so I'm going back a bit...but early season used to be half price or less!
 
CrashCoaster

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
So I made a trip to the Pleasure Beach today and managed to get a ride on Big One on its first day back open after the re-track (I only got one ride because it was a 45-minute wait all day and was only on one train the whole time). The new trackwork is interesting to say the least; it has had some re-profiling done that isn't too visible from looking at it but it felt so much different. While it's much smoother now, the incline up to the MCBR now offers some weird and surprisingly strong laterals that I did not expect at all, it almost felt like an outerbank. I really liked it though, I found it to be quite surprising. Also, unlike the other new track sections that Taziker has installed, I couldn't really feel the transitions between the new track and old track which is always a plus. Really hope the turnaround gets done next season because that is now the roughest part of the ride imo. Overall a good change!
 
rob666

rob666

Hyper Poster
Very strong sudden gusty winds from the north today, very weird.
I was working 20 miles away.
Gentle breeze, then a real blast for a few seconds.
Made a right mess of my lawn feeds!
Will be back open in the morning I'm sure.
 
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