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Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

Some awesome photos of the old Hochschaubahn, which operated in Wiener Prater from 1909 to 1944. According to rcdb, it was the world's longest coaster from 1909 to 1923 and then again between the years 1931 and 1944.

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Some good clips of Blackpool Pleasure Beach here from the 1960s including the original layout of the Wild Mouse!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyXc_OgMhgY[/youtube]
 
I remember going on those cable cars - scared me ****!

I didn't know the Wild Mouse had a different layout???

OMG, the animals actually going around the Ark!

Great video, it's all so familiar to me (I started going about ten years after this so not much had changed) and the biggest changes have been in the last ten years when I've been less and less. It's really odd to feel like it's only taking me back a decade :lol:
 
I knew the Mouse had been altered as in the extra bit at the top of the ride - it started with the Zig Zag bits that are now the 2nd layer. But I had no idea it had been changed in the 60s - thought it was a lot earlier than that.

You're not wrong about the cable cars, always a nerve wracking ride - especially when it stopped and the cars were swinging in the wind.

Shame theres no footage of the Nash happily running without any restraints
 
Here's Coney Island through the decades.
This one from the turn of the century has some flats from that era, Shoot the Chutes and the Steeplechase.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7ON4JiD-I[/youtube]

This Fatty Arbuckle comedy from the following decade has the Witching Waves (5:40) and better Shoot the Chutes (9:35) footage.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1KJyzfg80[/youtube]

This one from 1940 shows some great flat rides as well as footage of Thunderbolt, Cyclone, Tornado and Mile Sky Chaser, but not the Bobsleds.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syQIDXjGX9E[/youtube]

Here's a documentary from a dozen years later with more flats, the Virginia Reel, Cyclone, Thunderbolt, Flying Turns and the Bobsleds (but only for a couple of seconds).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9I31TcyacY[/youtube]

This one is from the 1970s and shows how the place became a dump, but it does have some cool footage of Astroland and on-ride footage of Thunderbolt before it closed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymU5lNhLRnY[/youtube]

Although this one doesn't have much Coney Island footage, it does give you a good idea of what the place was like in the '80s.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4ATDfCYmo[/youtube]

And he did film their ride on Cyclone.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYuphcjc4Q[/youtube]

The only thing I could find from the 1990's.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVLj15J2X9E[/youtube]

Finally this one is Charles Denson's 2002 climb to the top of the Parachute Jump (after it was renovated).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIR0jxqfl4c[/youtube]

And this hour long documentary from 1990 is simply amazing! The complete history of Coney Island through 1967 when Steeplechase Park closed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0nsK1vitMg[/youtube]


FYI - I moved to New York City in 1981 and have been to Coney Island every year since then.
 
ECG said:
Here's Coney Island through the decades.
This one from the turn of the century has some flats from that era, Shoot the Chutes and the Steeplechase.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7ON4JiD-I[/youtube]

Blimey - That contraption that starts at about 5 minutes in looked epic - but do you think they counted it as a cred?

Always amuses me how they dress in their best clothes to go to the beach, and jump in the sea fully clothed!!
 
Love that Coney Island stuff - will be visiting Coney for the first time in June this year! On another note, a very sad loss - I never realised how picturesque Belle Vue actually was - it was sadly before my time. Chethams are currently digitising and uploading loads of never before seen old photos of Belle Vue in Manchester including the below.

Visit http://www.chethams.org.uk/bellevue/items/browse for loads more of the amusement park and zoo - try typing Bobs, Scenic Railway and Water Chute into the top right search bar :)

The Bobs:
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Scenic Railway:
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Not sure if this one has been posted before, but it's the original Great Yarmouth Scenic Railway which according to RCDB was later moved to Codona's in Scotland:

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^Great video. I never knew there was a traveling double looper at Coney Island. :shock:
 
A report from Sirocco/Turbine/Psyké Underground from 1982. Do see how these locals from Walibi Belgium have a Shuttle Loop in their garden :D

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3MiYQz_B4c[/youtube]
 
So it turns out my dad once went on the Battersea Park death cred. He found some old slides for me from the early 1970s when he visited during the Easter flower festival. He thinks they are from 1972 but isn't 100% sure. If so, that would be the last year of the Big Dipper's operation.

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