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The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg (and Barcelona)

TilenB

TilenB

Strata Poster
We all know of the great American Roller coaster Boom of the early 20th Century in which countless coasters had been built across the country, before the era being abruptly ended by great depression. But few coaster enthusiast know that Europe also had a fair few coasters (mostly scenic railways) as well. One of those used to stand in St. Petersburg.

The coaster was located Gosnardoma Garden (where a zoo is located nowadays) and was built as replacement for a previous ride that burned down in November 1932. Work on it started in 1933 and the ride opened by May 1934. It was 1,2km long and 34 meters high. The project was realized by the architects A.P.Velikanovym and A.F.Hryakovym, while the mechanical part of the construction was supervised by P.V.Startsev. The ride was sadly bombed down in a German air raid on October 17th 1941. It was a strategic target, since the Russians have used its structure to store fuel and food. Needless to say, the ride burned down quickly after it got hit.

Here are some photos:

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Footage from after the bombing:

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I think this was a coaster that pre-dated it and burned down in 1932:

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Sources:
http://ru-sovarch.livejournal.com/540282.html
http://bob-many.livejournal.com/374305.html
 
Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

The facade work is just fantastic for both roller coasters - not what I imagine for roller coasters from that era. Thanks for sharing the photos, which are also surprisingly in good clarity.

I especially like the arched bridge!
 
Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

That actually looks pretty fab. Sucks it got bombed. :(

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Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

That ride looks wonderful. There's something about all the historical scenic railways I really like. I was in love with the one at Prater, it may not have been amazing or anything.... but I was extremely appreciative of it. Same for the ones at Great Yarmouth, Vidámpark, Bakken...and the fantastic one at Tivoli
 
Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

Very interesting, thanks for posting :).
The coaster looks great, seems fairly ahead of its time. Was the rockwork artificial?
 
Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

I suppose the Germans made up for it by building Wodan, El Toro & Colossos.
 
Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

That looked great - really long coaster too, what a shame.
 
Re: The Lost Coaster of St. Petersburg

mouse said:
Very interesting, thanks for posting :).
The coaster looks great, seems fairly ahead of its time. Was the rockwork artificial?
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It was artificial, none of it were real rocks, just wood and facade, according to one of the sources.

I'm glad to see this one sparking quite that much interest. :D

Oh, and here is another one I'd found on the internet, this time on the complete other side of Europe, in Barcelona. Also a pre-WWII coaster that has sparked my interest due it being one of the first steel coasters in the world and most probably the first one in Europe. I love the theme!

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I'm not sure if this one is legit, since the only pages with it are advertising some sort of an art show and generally don't talk about the coaster.


source: http://www.bloggercoaster.com/2014/06/b ... eum-6.html
 
Some good photos and info here Tilden, but could you please post this kind of stuff in the Fantastic old coaster footage/pics topic: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=25962 Hyde already copied your original post over and I did the same with the above one. I don't think these coasters warrant their own topic that will get buried over time and we don't need further topics like this popping up. It's better to have them with the others where people will continue to see them as the stickied topic keeps getting bumped.
 
^ Okay, but I did find in the past that posts in that topic are often overlooked by most members. I have posted similar pictures of the coasters elsewhere and got zero replies. It feels as it's only the moderators (you, Ian, furie, Hyde...) and some of the more senior British members that are still regularly checking it... :)
 
Information about lost European coasters from the early 20th century is a lot more scarce than American coaster history and very interesting - I think it absolutely deserves its own topic! I'd much rather see more topics like this than countless alterations of top 10 lists. Seems a shame to have lots of genuinely interesting info being lumbered into one topic.

Very impressed with the Barcelona one, the level of theming and landscaping is brilliant. Any ideas on how expensive these would've been to build?
 
TilenB said:
^ Okay, but I did find in the past that posts in that topic are often overlooked by most members. I have posted similar pictures of the coasters elsewhere and got zero replies. It feels as it's only the moderators (you, Ian, furie, Hyde...) and some of the more senior British members that are still regularly checking it... :)
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You don't have to post them there, it was just a personal request so the topic doesn't disappear to the graveyard. If I felt that this topic had to be with the other I would have moved it there. The choice is yours to make.
 
^ I was also thinking this as well, but Cyclone is no near any field of water and this one did have the same sort of support structure as Toshimaen's coaster has, but it's only the clarity of this shot that makes me doubt it was taken around 100 years ago...
 
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