Got_it
Posts: 818
Registered: 11/1/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
|
 2/26/2007 3:40:19 PM
I was looking at pictures of the Bat, the first modern suspended coater in the USA, and although I know it had a very bad maintenance record, but from some of the pictures it looked like it was a lot of fun, as you can see from this picture the far train looks like it is swinging pretty well. Has anyone ridden it and was it a fun ride?
--------------------
Wild Cat(LC)2006 Ride Count= 151
B&M is so over rated all they did was steal the suspended coaster idea from Arrow and put a few loops in it.
Prefabricated Track is for people who can't handle a real wooden coaster.
5+ Years still missing the "Riverside" Cyclone
|
Axman
Posts: 1055
Registered: 10/4/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/27/2007 12:10:07 AM
My ex-girlfriend's father rode it back in '80. He said it was "Awsome". He hadn't been back since then, and was bummed when he heard it had been scrapped.
If I hadn't been born in '91, then I would have done all that was in my power to ride it before it closed.
|
hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/27/2007 12:50:27 AM
by how yellow that picture is i'd guess it was from 1960 rather than 1980. the coloring makes the vegetation seem extra lush and tropical, like it is some rare roller coaster in ecuador or something.
|
Got_it
Posts: 818
Registered: 11/1/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
|
2/27/2007 1:20:30 AM
What do you mean?
|
hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/27/2007 10:16:24 AM
the color film stock used commercially in the 60s, as well as the card stock available for photo printing quickly lost a lot of the the red and blue emulsions leaving very green/yellowy photos. some types of print stock lost all the yellow, leaving very pale bluish/red type photos. you probably know what i mean if you dig through your family's picture archives. by the 80s this wasn't so much of an issue.
judging by the color of the sky in the "bat" photo, i'd say it is a scan of a photo from some person's basement. maybe it was printed on cheap paper, maybe whoever scanned it was inept with photo shop and didn't bother making the sky look blue again - but even on the haziest summer day i have never seen the sky colored puke yellow green.
regarding the trees - the trees in the photo don't seem like deciduous trees in ohio but rather some sort of tropical species, more common to a south american country than the midwest usa.
additionally, my girlfriend's family is half from central america (honduras). i have perused her family photo albums and i can tell that they used older, cruder types of film and print stock even in the 80s, because it is a poor country and that is what was available to them. often fairly recent photos from central/south america look like they are from the 60s because of the color loss. the problem is cheap print stock.
probably "too much information", but you asked.
Message updated 2/27/2007 10:28:34 AM by hrrytraver
|
Got_it
Posts: 818
Registered: 11/1/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
|
2/27/2007 2:32:15 PM
I'm sure that is all true, but the Bat was built in the 1980's so I don't know what you are getting at.
|
hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/27/2007 2:42:44 PM
i'm suggesting that the bat was never built by arrow in 1980 but rather it was made by mayan witch doctors in northern guatemala in 1962.
Message updated 2/27/2007 2:52:50 PM by hrrytraver
|
adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
|
2/27/2007 4:40:21 PM
Keep it up, traver, just keeeeep it up...
|
Axman
Posts: 1055
Registered: 10/4/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/27/2007 4:58:35 PM
It does look like it's somewhere tropical. There aren't any other rides in the background, so there's nothing to give it away.
I think this picture gives you a more acurate idea of the ride's location and time period.
It was smart of Arrow to build a replacement coaster on that same plot, with the same station, location, queue line, and electric sign placement. The only thing that they lost money on was the coaster itself. Almost nothing else needed to be changed afther the removal of the ride, except for certin key controlls in the rides's station.
The rafters inside the station haven't changed a bit, and are still designed to support suspended track. Most of the footers are still on site, too.
A lot more money would have been lost, if they ripped up everything, and completely started over.
Message updated 2/27/2007 5:07:14 PM by Axman
|
Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004
Rank: Gold Critic
|
2/27/2007 10:16:21 PM
I saw the Bat pop-up as the random coaster on RCDB yesterday, and I too was intrigued. I like the suspended coaster concept and believe that in the right hands (read Arrow), it might still have some vitality left.
|
Axman
Posts: 1055
Registered: 10/4/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/27/2007 11:44:59 PM
Some one should have saved X-LR8, and maybe re-routed most of the track, in order to make it a more thrilling ride.
It's a shame that they are so scarce. I really want somebody to purchase "Hayabusa" from Tokyo Summerland.
|
RCGenius
Posts: 1180
Registered: 12/23/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/28/2007 7:28:55 AM
I wish someone did too Axman. After checking out that coaster on RCDB, it looks incredible. Imagine riding a 60 m.p.h. suspended coaster that stands 137 feet high & drops you down 124 feet. Maybe no one purchased the coaster yet because of the huge layout would be tough to fit at most amusement parks. Also, could you imagine someone attempting a relocation project with that beast? That'd be the largest relocation project ever.
|
Axman
Posts: 1055
Registered: 10/4/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/28/2007 1:49:53 PM
You're talking about Hayabusa, right.
X-LR8 definetly did not go 60mph.
|
RCGenius
Posts: 1180
Registered: 12/23/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/28/2007 2:26:41 PM
I'm talking about Hayabusa Axman. I know that XLR-8 doesn't go 60 m.p.h. I knew that XLR-8 only went around 34 m.p.h. Besides, it's not even close to Hayabusa's statistics.
|
Axman
Posts: 1055
Registered: 10/4/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
2/28/2007 11:25:29 PM
M'kay. Just making sure.
I would love it, if the Flying Turns coaster triggered a classic-coaster renecance, which, in turn, would lead to S&S manufacturing the Arrow suspended coaster. It would be wildly cool
|
Got_it
Posts: 818
Registered: 11/1/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
|
7/11/2007 11:59:32 PM
Wow I found a Video (Sorry to kind of dig this thread up)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwcqCNiVLbI
The Bat was a good ride, to bad it had problems.
|
Canobie Coaster
Posts: 2694
Registered: 7/26/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
7/12/2007 7:03:14 AM
Nice video. Too bad the bat had its numerous problems. At least Paramount replaced the Bat with another coaster.
|
hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
7/12/2007 7:45:05 AM
^ nice vid! i love the dorked out interviews. dorky music too. the early 80s is a strange era, and one that for better or for worse owned my formative years.
the bat is on my top five "wish i coulda rode" list.
Message updated 7/12/2007 7:46:02 AM by hrrytraver
|
Canobie Coaster
Posts: 2694
Registered: 7/26/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
7/13/2007 7:32:48 AM
Just curious, which coaster replaced the Bat?
|
Got_it
Posts: 818
Registered: 11/1/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
|
7/13/2007 9:31:14 PM
Vortex
|
ginzo
Posts: 564
Registered: 7/16/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
|
7/23/2007 1:39:47 PM
I'm not inclined to believe that the Bat was as great as people say it was. It seems like if the ride was so popular they would have tried more to fix it, perhaps by replacing the turns with banked track. This would have been a lot cheaper than ripping the sucker out and installing a whole new coaster. It's impossible to know now what the ride was like.
My current favorite Arrow suspended is BBW, because of the crazy swings in the first half. I bet the Bat swang out even more. Maybe I would have liked it.
Message updated 7/23/2007 1:40:59 PM by ginzo
|