• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
But at some point it's not going to be economically viable for the park to have continue to keep the thing running.

The big shock for me this season was just how better an experience Magnum XL200 was and how smoother (comparatively) it ran compared to the big one. This despite the fact it's five years older and the winters on Lake Erie will be as bad (if not worse) than Blackpool.

Whilst I personally wouldn't want them to RMC the big one currently, surely at some point the park will end up having to retrack it massively and/or change the trains however doing this will be costly but gives them nothing new to advertise for the next year.

Giving it the RMC treatment would likely give them a ride that'll last another 25+ years, and something new and unique to the UK. Also would it be RMCs first steel coaster conversion as well?
 
RMC?

The company who's new rides crash, throw tyre-drive wheels at people in the queue and have major structural issues just years after opening? Not to mention the hideous restraints.

Yeah... no thanks.
 
Gee Jamie, that sounds like a nightmare!

Coaster said:
The company who's new rides crash
Click to expand...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...team-finds-braking-system-faults-1416334.html

Coaster said:
throw tyre-drive wheels at people in the queue
Click to expand...
https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...big-one-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach-1-7421782

Coaster said:
have major structural issues just years after opening?
Click to expand...
8a5zya8.jpg
 
Last edited:
Rick said:
Gee Jamie, that sounds like a nightmare!


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...team-finds-braking-system-faults-1416334.html


https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...big-one-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach-1-7421782


8a5zya8.jpg
Click to expand...
Oh I'm absolutely aware that The Big One has caused endless issues, but the likes of Steel Vengeance were built over 20 years later so you would think that manufacturers would have learnt from previous things such as this.

In turn, what would be the benefit of converting The Big One into an RMC and essentially giving the park the same issues they had to deal with 25 years ago? Surely that's counter productive?
 
Why would RMC convert Big One? They've never converted a purely steel coaster before so they've little to no experience of it...

Someone actually making the layout good though would be an idea down the line... The Big One is... Some things, wild is not one of them...
 
Coaster said:
Oh I'm absolutely aware that The Big One has caused endless issues, but the likes of Steel Vengeance were built over 20 years later so you would think that manufacturers would have learnt from previous things such as this.
Click to expand...
That's like saying The Big One was built 100 years after the Flip Flap Railway and you'd think they'd have learnt how not to have endless issues. When you are building something that really tries to push the envelope, you sometimes don't get iit right. Whether it be Steel Phantom, Skytrak, Vliegende Hollander, The Bat, Dragster, Perilous Plunge, Kingda Ka, Hypersonic, Vertigo, X etc etc - you have to re-engineer things on the fly - but you can only do that for so long and to a certain degree.

If you're building software and find a bug, you push out a new release and all is well. It's more difficult with a steel behemoth on the Fylde coast. Instead you end up running less trains, inspecting wheels at increased frequencies, clamping the track to the structure where they no longer meet, reprofiling significant portions of the ride etc.

Coaster said:
In turn, what would be the benefit of converting The Big One into an RMC and essentially giving the park the same issues they had to deal with 25 years ago? Surely that's counter productive?
Click to expand...
How so? RMC take rides that have been historically painful to maintain, less popular than previously or reaching the end of their service life and revitalises them. It's the exact same use case as something like Colossus at Magic Mountain or Mean Streak at Cedar Point. When completed it's not really the same ride, you keep what's good and replace what needs replacing.

In the same way Kennywood has minimal issues with Phantoms Revenge vs what they had with Steel Phantom - it's essentially a Morgan ride built on Arrow supports.

Benzin said:
Why would RMC convert Big One? They've never converted a purely steel coaster before so they've little to no experience of it...
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't they? When you're building barrel roles out of wood and the like, laying your track on top of a lattice structure that for the most part resembles a wooden structure feels somewhat trivial. Not least because the modular nature of the towers would allow for the reprofiling of the ramps in the same way they do with wood coasters, when they adjust the height of the bents.

Benzin said:
Someone actually making the layout good though would be an idea down the line... The Big One is... Some things, wild is not one of them...
Click to expand...
That's essentially what I am suggesting. Alan Schilke did lots of work on the Big One with Ron Toomer, coming back and righting the wrongs doesn't feel like a bad idea to me, especially when they have the RMC platforms with their seemingly limitless possibilities at their disposal.
 
If the Big One was rebuilt how would the logistics work?
It would be an heroic achievement to do that over the closed season, but you couldn't close all of the areas beneath it at once during operating periods, as that is half of BPB.

A new version would need to offer increased capacity, as it is already arguably the longest queue in the park, so presumably a new station, 3 train running being a normal event. Its possible, but it seems an unlikely decision on where to invest the £millions in costs and hit on revenue from the disruption to the rest of the park.

Rides like the Nash, Big Dipper, Infusion, Avalanche and Valhalla all need improvements; Watson Road might have to be rebuilt at some point. I can't see how they would decide a rebuild was the smart move? Retracking sections over several Autumn/Winter periods, to the existing design, seems the realistic approach.
 
It wasn't retracked though, B&M just made new trains to fit the existing track...
 
I thought they also did some track work. But what would I know next to The Duckman? ;)
 
On the subject of Steel Dragon 2000, the new B&M trains really do not enhance the experience. They make it incredibly rattley and headache inducing and it’s very clear when riding that this coaster was never intended to use these style of trains when first constructed.

It should be an amazing giga coaster but the new trains do not make for a pleasant ride. It really goes to show that something which may seem like a great idea (that’s what I thought before I rode it), can often turn out to be a pretty duff investment.

Long live the Arrow trains!
 
Apart from a bit of re-profiling on some bits, PMBO would benefit the most from new trains. Well, the same trains but cut each car in half so it's not trying to steer a bus through the transitions
 
Dar said:
Apart from a bit of re-profiling on some bits, PMBO would benefit the most from new trains. Well, the same trains but cut each car in half so it's not trying to steer a bus through the transitions
Click to expand...
Wouldn't really work as there are three rows per car, but oh well. :p
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top