by Vince, Charlie and Sam » 09 Aug 2007, 18:42
In the background of AJ's photo is the Big Dipper, which I rode as a twelve year old on a Red Rover bus pass day out in London (I lived in Eltham as a child). When I got home, I told my Mum and she was furious, telling me it was dangerous and I was never to go near it again.
Although my Mum always had (to me) an exaggerated sense of danger, within a month of my visit, there was an accident on the Big Dipper when a train broke free at the top of the pull-up and rolled back into the station, killing five children who were waiting aboard the next train.
I remember the reports afterwards saying that the ride was in a very poor state of repair- the rear cable grip had not connected with the hawser, and when the front cable grip disconnected at the top of the pier, the train lurched backwards.
The train should have been prevented from rolling backwards by more than a few inches by the linear ratchet but the wood was so rotten that the on-train pawls just punched through it. One girl who survived the initial impact died when she scrambled off of the train, which had been shunted backwards by several yards, and fell through the wooden walkway which was also rotten.
It was because of this accident that the ADIPS testing regime was introduced I believe.