Virginia Reel Footage

[Ed]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/openroad/launch.shtml

 

-Launch the Video Player

 

-When the Map of the UK appears on the right, find the area called "North Wales, North-West"

 

-Click on Blackpool. BPB footage starts 55 seconds into the film.

 

This was shot in the 1920's.

 

Enjoy.

[Three]

That video is positively badass. Realplayer is not, but the video certainly is.

 

I just love that kind of stuff. Was that one of those circular loops there by the scenic railway?

[Ed]

I have no idea what was by the Scenic Railway. Just a big wooden circle to me. You can see the Big Dipper in the background, Maxims Flying Machines (Very cold on a windy day!) and Noah's Ark which is still rocking 80 years later.

 

Sorry abour Real Player lol. Mine loads in Windows Media Player.. Probably cause I use the site alot and it's been changed by me somehow.

[Musical Pete]

The big round thing was the Rainbow Wheel - kind of like a reversed internal ferris wheel, where people sat inside at the bottom and the wheel rotated around them, showing various scenes painted on the walls.. atleast I think that was how it worked.

 

Scenic Railway was there yep, with its double decker station (station at ground level, with a return loop above to send the trains back out for the second part of the ride). Nash replaced the scenic a decade after that footage.

 

Dipper's there yep, but if you look closely you should see it's the original configuration, just a year or two old too - there was a turn at the top of the third hill (which now swoops down under PMBO and the Monorail) sending the track off for some dips (including a double one, inspiration for Charile when the built the Nash) with a turnaround, where Space Invader was built. The old configuration there followed exactly parallel to PMBO's lift of today, just a few feet over on the other side of the PB Express train track.

 

Lovely to see so many tubs descending the Reel at once. No blocks back then, they hadn't got pissy like that.. hence the reason for old coaster cars having large springs or buffers on them! Ahh, bootiful, lol.

 

Take a good look round here too: Pleasure Beach Postcards - if you liked that footage you'll like these postcards. I certainly do!

 

..Did anyone bet on me finding and replying to this topic early on eh?..