The Corkscrew

[furie]

CorkScrew is being scrapped - it is NOT being sold on.

There are potential plans to use the iconic Corkscrews as theming around the park.

I have it on good authority (people who visited and talked to management at Vekoma) that the ride required a new set of trains and a lot of remedial work doing to it. To the tune of several hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Vekoma issued a quote for the new cars and work, but Alton have decided that the cost far outweighs the valuable bit of land it sits on.

It's a shame to see it go for what the ride potentially did for the industry.

Don't forget, an identical model opened up on EAS' doorstep just a month or so later - so it wasn't exactly the only one in the country on 1980 - and Blackpool pipped them with Europe's first loop in 1979.

Really, it was just the sheer marketing effort revolving around the ride which had the effect - the ride was neither here nor there. Personally, I think the ride is fine - it has a good bit of air time here and there and it's mild fun. It is VERY conveniently 1.2M limited, and I hope the replacement will be too.

Anyway, I think due to the cost of repair, and the fact it is such a British icon, the Corkscrew won't leave Alton for another park in any way shape or form.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[Cheryl]

This is very sad news.

This ride made Alton Towers what it is today. I was hoping they wouldn't scrap it in view of this and would have liked to have seen it preserved in a 'museum' environment, ie the Heritage Park at Dreamland.

Alton Towers would probably have got some free advertising, as I assume that each 'exhibit' within the park would have signage indicating each rides history, ie. age, what park it came from etc.

We rode the Corkscrew in April and had a great deal of fun on it - a crying shame.

[furie]

Can I just apologise for how abrupt my post above sounds. It's very clinical and not well put at all. Sorry about that, I must have had a temporary niceness override

There's the special 'Goodbye Corkscrew' event being held on the 9th of November, and there are going to be a lot of enthusiast groups there. They're trying to organise a mass photo shot of all the enthusiasts who came to pay their last respects. Should be an interesting day...

[dreamland]

looking at pictures of the corkscrew it reminds me of the looping star (1982-1995) and would look great in the same location, there must be a way of getting the corkscrew, im gonna email nick to see if he can give me more info

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Godspeed to you. Maybe Nick can convince the owners of DL to pony up for a relocation. Maybe the prospect of getting a really cool thing like the Corkscrew for cheap will tickle their fancy and make them start believeing a new Dreamland could be reality.

If all those so-called enthusiasts could be convinced to cough up 10 or 20 bones into a fund, that would defer at least some of the cost of moving it.

Anything's possible, but time is short!!!

[dave771]

As it has already been stated in a previous post, there are plans to use parts of the ride as theming elsewhere around the park, and to get it to a good running state will cost many thousands of pounds according to the manafacturers of the ride which is something we do not have. It may sound like a good idea but we cannot force anyone to do anything. Can I just point out that we do not own Dreamland or have any say in what happens with the proposed heritage park. We are working with the owners as much as we can and thats all we can do for now. We do not make the decisions here !

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Well, Alton might relinquish a few pieces of modern art if someone offered to take the whole shebang.
Volunteers could rebuild the trains. getting Dreamland going isn't going to be cheap, and you have to think outside the realm of your own personal finances.
Anything's possible.

[dave771]

In an ideal situation thats a great idea but we are talking tens of thousands of pounds and im afraid volunteers cannot rebuild or maintain the trains, this would require experienced engineers that are not cheap !

[aweber1us]

As an Engineer i have been part of preserved steam railways all run by volunteers. Volunteers that had no training in steam but would be part of a team of people that would re build a steam engine from the ground upwards.These people are all around the country rebuilding boats, planes, trains and buildings just rebuilding things from the past they love.
There has got to be volunteers out there that would be up for spending some time rebuilding this ride or others . I for one would be and live in hope that one day Dreamland is run by a Trust that may ask for the help of volunteers.

[dave771]

I think people are missing the point here. The Park is in private ownership, we are working with the parks owners to work towards having a Heritage Park on the Dreamland site. We do not have any control over what happens, when it happens and what rides will be there if and when it happens. All rides have to be certificated by an ADIPS approved inspector and unfortunately that doesnt include volunteers that are willing to help, unless of course you are an ADIPS approved inspector. Its not as simple as it all seems.

[aweber1us]

I understand the ownership problems with Dreamland. I hope the likes of you and Nick play a part in it all.Being involved in Engineering i know that most Machines that carry public under go testing by a private body.But thats about a machine meeting a standard not who gets it ready for testing.

[dave771]

Ok, thats great if you have experience in maintaining roller coasters, and if the campaign has any say in what happens in the future im sure having the knowledge you have your help would be very much appreciated.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that if someone at MTRC, or Waterbridge, or whatever they're calling themselves now, got wind of this from one of our representatives, maybe, just maybe, a little light might go on in one of their heads that says "You know, maybe we could pull this off after all."
They were going to spend millions (that they have) on it to develop it anyway, right?

Right now, it's just a burnt, trainless rollercoaster on a concrete slab.

If they could pick up a second large one for the price of moving it and a little restorative work (versus millions for building a new one), then they'd have 2 really good anchors for something solid that might attract a worthy operator/investor(s) who would be willing to run and invest some effort into Dreamland.
There's already stuff in storage, that if I'm not mistaken, MTRC picked up the tab on.

They have to put the Scenic back together.... why not try to convince them to go all out and make a go of it?

[barcrest]

WOW The corkscrew is going. Really is a shame this could not have been aquired and moved to dreamland it is a real iconic ride. The cost of getting it running is really secondary to aquiring it and getting it set up on the dream land site. I mean if it had been aquired and set up that is main part of the battle. The hundreds of thousands to get it to an operational status could be delt with later and would make the site even more attractive with respect of the lease, of couse assuming this is what was wanted by the owners... Shame, i loved that ride. Of course it would have to be restored back to it's original colour scheme from when it opened

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

No reason why that all can't be looked into.

Time's running out.