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Talbot Street Tuesday

Squiggs said:
For anyone interested in the railway from that period, another interesting photo has surfaced recently, for sale on Ebay.

It shows the train in more or less the same position, a few years earlier, alongside the wooden maintenance shed.
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That picture you showed earlier certainly answered a few questions in my mind about the railway. I can remember the park railway as small child after its line had been shortened and always wondered exactly where and how it ran through today's MB. I can see from that pic now how it ran between the the buildings from the site of the Teacups out to today's Haunted Hollow which always confused me. Now the the slightly odd way the MB bay toilets are built makes perfect sense. Thanks for this @Squiggs and keep this coming!

Seeing that pic also shows how much of MB is modern extensions.
 
I think the train ride got shortened at each end over time.
Often an hours queue for a five minute ride.
Pretty sure they had a single punt on the parallel canal as well.
 
It is easy to forget that The Blade wasn't always so sharp. It started its life in the park as the Pirate Ship in Fantasy World.

Today, for Talbot Street Tuesday, we're taking a trip back to 1996, when two worlds collided and Alton Towers created this rather unique image of The Blade as it would have looked in Fantasy World.

But which did you prefer, a life on the high seas of the Pirate Ship, or the cutting edge looks of The Blade as it reappeared in 1997?
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We're remembering the park's smallest coaster, for today's Talbot Street Tuesday, with a look back at The Beastie

The ride first opened as the Mini Dragon in 1983, finding a home in Festival Park and Thunder Valley before eventually arriving in Adventure Land in 1997.

The pink-knuckle ride offered many youngsters their first thrill ride, right up until its closure in 2010. But was this your first ever rollercoaster?
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Squiggs said:
We're remembering the park's smallest coaster, for today's Talbot Street Tuesday, with a look back at The Beastie

The ride first opened as the Mini Dragon in 1983, finding a home in Festival Park and Thunder Valley before eventually arriving in Adventure Land in 1997.

The pink-knuckle ride offered many youngsters their first thrill ride, right up until its closure in 2010. But was this your first ever rollercoaster?
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Ahh yes, yes it was my first coaster. I remember re-riding it and re-riding it in adventure land until my Dad grabbed me from the ride exit and literally carried me out of the park. I think I actually hit my face on a toy he won on a game stall that was in his rucksack, so he took me to Towers Trading to stock up on sweets.

Good times!
 
Not sure if it was my first coaster, but I certainly remember riding this over and over when it lived in Forbidden Valley whilst most of my family were in very long queues for Nemesis back in the day.
 
I think I vaguely remember it in Festival Park. I was young at the time and in my head it was always in Coaster Corner with The Beast and Alton Mouse? I presume this memory is incorrect as I remember Coaster Corner fairly well and I'm possibly confusing it for Festival Park? I remember trees being behind it like in its last location.

I definitely remember it in Thunder Valley. I remember coming back to the park after a few years of absence and being surprised to see it now behind Spinball (a coaster I'd also never seen before at the time).
 
Squiggs said:
We're remembering the park's smallest coaster, for today's Talbot Street Tuesday, with a look back at The Beastie

The ride first opened as the Mini Dragon in 1983, finding a home in Festival Park and Thunder Valley before eventually arriving in Adventure Land in 1997.

The pink-knuckle ride offered many youngsters their first thrill ride, right up until its closure in 2010. But was this your first ever rollercoaster?
52196885400_bd2620841a_c.jpg
Click to expand...
Gosh I feel old now, I remember riding it in Adventureland when I was little. 🤣
 
We don't know about you, but here at TowersStreet we could just do with a nice dip when the temperature is this high! These days at Alton Towers you might have to head over to the Waterpark to cool off, but back in the 50s guests could don their bathers in the park itself!

For today's rather sweltering Talbot Street Tuesday, we're taking a dip into the history of the Paddling Pool, one of the park's earliest attractions.

Originally a shallow corner of the lake that now houses the Battle Galleons was designated for paddling, but it proved so popular that a dedicated Paddling Pool was built in the 1960s on the site which is now home to the Games Bunker. The pool survived until 1992 when it was paved over, but even today you can still see its outline if you look down at the ground near the Golf Challenge.

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The paddling pool my mum soaked her feet in after we sought out (and failed to find) King Ina's Rocks, while I had another go on Corky.
 
Love to see a paddling pool! There are very few of these fine play areas left in the world, yet I have such fond memories of them as a child.

When I drove through Rugeley (approx. 40 mins from Towers) last Friday, the paddling pool there was absolutely chock-a-block!

I understand it wouldn't fit in today's line-up at the park, but what a great thing to have had :)
 
Paddling pools need constant supervision if they are used, due to liability regarding issues with broken glass.
Local ones in parks shut about twenty years ago due to this.
Another of the sad reasons why we can't have nice things.
 
rob666 said:
Paddling pools need constant supervision if they are used, due to liability regarding issues with broken glass.
Local ones in parks shut about twenty years ago due to this.
Another of the sad reasons why we can't have nice things.
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Amazingly my town council has five paddling pools across the town. Only open kids summer holidays though. But delayed this year due to water shortages from the heatwave.
One of them is even being converted to a splash play area (like in the waterpark) but the construction is delayed due to vandalism and thefts from the site.
 
Splash play means visible broken glass.
The council used to drain and sweep ours out every morning, then a bottle of bleach, then filled again.
Remember spending half the night in it back in the summer of 76.
 
Arachnophobes beware! For today's Talbot Street Tuesday, we're taking a look at The Spider, one of the park's classic flat rides of the 80s.

Having formerly operated at Trentham Gardens, the ride moved over to Alton Towers in 1986, where it thrilled guests for the next six years.

It was nearly identical to the Octopus, which also operated at the park during this period. But what was your preferred theme when you went for a spin? Were you Team Spider, or Team Octopus?
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At this time of year back in 1999 and 2000, the park would have been preparing for their Summer Spectacular. So today, for Talbot Street Tuesday, let's take a look back at this explosive show on the park's main lake.

The pyrotechnics and other special effects for the show were provided by a company called Artem, who more recently created the giant bull animatronic, which starred in the opening of the Commonwealth Games last week.

But, would you like to see a summer show return to the park's lake?
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