WHo would ride the Crystal Beach Cyclone

[chauncey]

A few points:

 

Nobody ever actually had any health issues after riding The Cyclone, except the occasional nausea. The nurse was put on staff to calm down the insurance company after somebody died on another Harry Traver ride (the Lightning, I believe).

 

The only verifiable reports from the ride said, simply, that it was very intense for it's time. What does that mean to today's riders? Nothing, really.

 

Harry Traver made many other equally intense rides, as did other companies, such as Prior and Church.

 

This rides "legend", is, simply that. Legend.

 

How many of you would really be scared of a less than 50 mile an hour coaster today?

 

It would be fun, but nothing else. I'd love to see a GCI version of it.

[coasterguy618]

Hey, what the heck, i'd try it out.

[Hercules]

The only ride to ever have a nurse in the station... that is my kind of ride.

 

Hey, just look at my name

[crispy]

The reason the ride was taken down, is because people would ride it once, and never again, it was WAY to intense, so it was more intense than any coaster out today.

 

 

Another eason was the large cost in keeping the ride up, it had such extreme forces that they had to repair the coaster often.

 

 

Sorry, there was one death on the Cyclone

 

The other death was on the Cyclone at Crystal Beach where a man named Amos Wiedrich jumped or fell to his death after the first drop and was run over seconds later by the train he had been riding in. T

 

 

It was a VERY intense coaster, and said to have pulled over 4g's

 

 

Certainly an intense coaster, and one I would LOVE to ride

[Angry_Gumball]

I'd probably give it a shot. Afterall, the coaster enthusiest needs the credits.

[Musical Pete]

I emailed GCI three to four years ago about the possibility of a CB Cyclone rebuild (not as a potential customer!) and Mike Boodley personally replied, basically saying they wouldn't attempt it. He told me how Traver and Church designs influenced his own and how he mimicked their elements as best as possible, but it wouldn't be likely we'd see a Cyclone replica.

 

Today however with the even sharper twists and elements made than the ones existing when I emailed (some of Thunderhead's track for instance), and the kind of reborn ferocity of new S&S and GG designs, who knows.

 

I'd love to see it, I'd love to ride it. I'm an out & back person ultimately myself, but I wouldn't refuse a few rides!

 

How about Intamin prefab it and Millennium Flyers run on it? - track maintenance wouldn't be as much of an issue.

 

By the way, when opening a new window to spellcheck a word during composing this post, the random coaster featured (for my homepage is RCDB) was Crystal Beach's Comet.

[ParkTrips]

I wouldn't want it to have Intamin track. The ride is supposed to be a wild, rough beast and Intamin Prefabricated track would kill the ride for me IMO.

 

Also, I don't think GCII sells Flyers for rides other than their own.

[chauncey]

I was just thinking about this coaster, and I actually decided it would probably be for the best to not rebuild it. Looking at the No Limits recreation, and photos, etc, I realise it's just badly designed.

 

There are a lot of badly-handled transitions, random flat bits, and a few "what's the point?" moments.

 

What I would like to see is a ride which placed better designed versions of the signature elements (the drop, the helix, the figure 8, maybe the trick track), into a more well thought out layout.

[Hercules]

I wouldn't want an Intamin either, but something like that would probably be the only way to get some sort of clone built these days, especially since that ride had such a history of brutality. It would take a little bit away from it, but I would be all over getting a ride on it. I think it would still be a beast of a ride. Hell, get S&S to do it. J2 was a rough and wild on all on its own.

[Musical Pete]

I dislike Intamin's prefab system, infact I dislike modern design style as a whole. It would just be a way to get the thing built!

 

I'm yet to ride a prefab woodie. I'll ride Balder in just over a week, I shall see how I feel then.

[verticalzero]

I'll love to ride it if I was in the area at the time.

 

I hope someone can make a copy of it in the future and have Harry's name bembeded into the structure or at the top of the Lift-Hill above the track, to honor a wonderful coaster designer.

 

I'm sure SOB Helix is based on this coaster, it looks a more modern version.

 

I have never ridden a coaster which has made me "puke", only slightly dizzy (but I do have an ear condition and effects my balance, I have the all clear from Doctors to say it's fine to ride a coaster)

 

I have had "tunnel vision" on Oblivion, I will never ride it again though.

[kidcoaster]

I have heard the had a nurse at the unloading platform. Anyone know if it is true?

[VegasCoaster]

There's no way I wouldn't ride that ride. Its such a classic and it looks like a lot of fun. Sure it actually had a nurse at the exit and broke ribs etc., but it would be a lot of fun.

[the sound]

I have heard the had a nurse at the unloading platform. Anyone know if it is true?

 

I read that in a book one time.

 

Yeah, i think i'd give it a go, even if i get nauseous .

[Masked_Maverick]

Just bring it I'd love to ride it if they ever re-built it. I really think with certain kinds of trains that it would be an injury free ride.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

I'd do it, I might Sh!t Myself, But I'd do it.

[kidcoaster]

It is like an early version of Mean Streak minus the nurse at the exit Platform. I thinkthey need one.

[niiicolaaah]

I don't believe all the crap about a nurse. I think that was a publicity ploy. I don't think the park would have operated a coaster for 20 years that caused enough problems for the riders that they would need to have a nurse on duty. Then again, people weren't as sue-happy in the 1920's-40's.

[CP_RULES]

Heck, Id ride it!

[Milkchan]

I guess I would ride.

 

Crystal Beach Cyclone(Mother) + The Beast(Father)= Son of Beast(Like mother like son.)

[ginzo]

What enthusiast wouldn't ride it?

 

I think it's sad that no Traver coaster survives today. It's also sad to read web pages that say stuff like:

 

John Allen was Schmeck's understudy and became known as a great troubleshooter in his own right. Together they worked on one of the greatest roller coaster transformations in history, the Crystal Beach Comet. The park had erected Harry Traver's first Giant Safety Cyclone in 1927 but throughout its life the coaster experienced severe structural problems. The ride literally shook itself apart because of the heavy articulating trains and bad design. In 1938 the park hired the P.T.C. to reinforce the ride in several places. Herb Schmeck added additional structural ties to keep the ride together, but by 1946 rising maintenance costs forced the park to demolish the coaster. Schmeck and Allen reworked much of the Cyclone's structure into a new out and back layout inspired in part by Schmeck's 1947 Rocket at Playland Park in San Antonio.

 

Greatest roller coaster transformations in history? Lame. They turned the most extreme coaster ever into an every day out and back.

 

The bit about "heavy articulating trains" is interesting, as this is exactly what happened to the SOB.

 

I found a nice animated POV of the Cyclone:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSoaJVBbypA

[coasterdude5]

I'd probably send somebody on it, and then try it, nah, I'd probably go ahead and take a shot at it.

[65skylark]

This is from a book I have about Golden Age coasters. It is refering to Traver's Lightning.

 

The ride opened on July 2, 1927, and within 24 hours recorded a fatal accident. The death of a passenger did not deter riders, but broken ribs and other injuries were common. In adition, the horrific ride was known as a cure for unwanted pregnancies. The lightning, howerver, was a maintenance nightmare, sheering bolts and requiring constant car. After losing money in 1931 and 1932, it was demolished.

 

Unfortunately, even if the Crystal Beach Cyclone or Revere Beach Lightning would not have been torn down for ecconomic reasons, they certainly would have eventually been shut down for safety reasons. The nurse station deal was very real. Broken bones and dislocated joints were not at all uncommon on these.

 

Having said that, I would kill to be able to go back in time and ride one of those coasters.

[weatherkid17]

It only looked really bad lateral G wise, so I would probably ride it.

[ginzo]

This is from a book I have about Golden Age coasters. It is refering to Traver's Lightning.

 

The ride opened on July 2, 1927, and within 24 hours recorded a fatal accident. The death of a passenger did not deter riders, but broken ribs and other injuries were common. In adition, the horrific ride was known as a cure for unwanted pregnancies. The lightning, howerver, was a maintenance nightmare, sheering bolts and requiring constant car. After losing money in 1931 and 1932, it was demolished.

 

Unfortunately, even if the Crystal Beach Cyclone or Revere Beach Lightning would not have been torn down for ecconomic reasons, they certainly would have eventually been shut down for safety reasons. The nurse station deal was very real. Broken bones and dislocated joints were not at all uncommon on these.

 

It's very hard to separate fact from fiction about the "Golden Age" of coasters, especially where Harry Traver is concerned. It's not a well-documented era, and many rumors fly. The pictures of his coasters suggest that Traver's coasters were extremely rough, much rougher than anything today. Traver and his contemporaries did not benefit from computer modeling and knowing exactly what the forces on riders will be at any given moment on the ride. But, how bad could it have been? If passengers were being mangled at such an alarming rate, who would have ridden his rides? There's a difference between being a thrill-seeker and being a dumb ass hoping to get mangled.

 

Some people have written that Traver was a sinister figure who delighted in using passengers as guinea pigs. Richard Munch's book dispels this myth. Traver was a very nice man, generous with his employees to the point where he lost his house during the depression.