American Eagle's Beginnnings

Last night I wqas reading "The American Roller Coaster", and pages 84-85 have pictures of American Eagle in construction and on its grand opening. In picture one it showed blue rails? Where did the blue rails go?

In picture two it shows the helix in bare wood being painted. Is this how all woodies are done, or do they come pre-painted?

In picture three it shows the ride lit up a light blue. Do they still do this? I think it looks better than Millie. It also shows the South Entrance in use. Do you think it will be re-opened?

I don't know when the blue rails "went away" by being covered with red paint.

Yes, painted wood coasters usually are assembled unpainted then once construction is complete, they are painted. There are two reasons for this. 1) Using drillbits through outdoor quality paint, reduces the drill bits' "lifespan" 2) During construction countless scratches, gouges, etc would cause the coaster to have to be touched up, cut ends from sawing would need to be painted, yada yada yada...

I don't remember seeing anything other than white lights on AE for as far back as I can recall...

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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

I wish the south entrance was still in use. Last year was the first year that it was closed all year (if my memory holds). When you are trying to go for a nooner at the park, or hitting the park in rush hour, it helps for the south entrance to be open.

Can't talk about the south entrance, but I know it was still being used as an exit last year.

Blue? I've got the book, and I don't recall blue lights... There might be a bit of a blueish tint to the overall scene, but I'm pretty sure the lights are as close to pure white as possible. And I still think AE looks better than Millie at night.

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I hear America screaming...

Hee, hee, onceler used 'nooner' and 'south entrance' in the same post.

I remember back in the old days when AE was the biggest though not the longest thing in the world.

The way they have the lighting positioned makes the structure look like its glowing at night.

It truly is a spectacular structure to look at.

The south(Washington st.) entrance was closed off after Sept. 11th. They do use it as an exit but only near the last couple of hours before the park closes.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

Speaking of Eagle's beginnings, does anyone remember when the rolling stock was changed to include those padded "wings" on the sidewalls of the trains? I've got a few early pictures of the Eagle sans "wings" and with fully padded headrests - not the bar-style headrests it has now. I always hated those wings. I'm guessing they added those to prevent possible arm-choppers in the helix?

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"Na na na na na na na na LEA-DER!"

I thought the wings were added to keep us fresh. ;)

I heard some rumor that AE was up for sale. They wanted to disassemble the coaster and sell the land to a new developer. Has anyone else heard about this?

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YOUNGSTOWN 2010

Oh please. Not happening.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

I'm serious. I don't want for AE to go away.

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YOUNGSTOWN 2010

jkpark...ARN&R is not, I repeat NOT a valid source for rumors and info. If this tidbit didn't come from them, it certainly SHOULD have...;)

Not another AE is leaving rumor...

If they were to rebuild this coaster somewhere else it would cost more than it did originally.

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BMCOASTER

bmcoaster@wi.rr.com

Oh, please. I can remember an "American Eagle Eagle is being torn down" rumor every years since I've known whta Americna Eagle was. My favorite was that it was going to be replaced by an exact copy made out of steel instead of wood (1994).

I just checked the book... It does look pretty blue, but I still think it's a trick. All the borders between the various pieces of lumber make for a lot of grey, before you even take into acount the actual shadows. Grey can look blue under various conditions, and photographs, even good ones, have a hard time capturing colors exactly as they are.

EDIT- I just checked out CoasterGallery and SFGAmWorld. The sides of the laminated boards are actually still blue. It's just kind of hard to see. I couldn't really tell on the top: In some pictures, it looked like a very faded blue, in some it just looked grey, and in others, they looked brown (like I said, it's hard for cameras to get it just right). In any event, the effect, even if the tops were still solid blue, would be diminished from what you see in the book, because the metal rails take up a lot of the space on the top.

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I hear America screaming...
*** This post was edited by (SF)Great American 2/13/2003 4:49:13 PM ***

C'mon! You guys haven't heard about the seating arrangement for this year? Something about every other car facing a different direction, including sideways. There's also talk of a Miler kiddie coaster that will replace the layout. Ever been to Scandia? That's only 80 feet my friends. Yikes!
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Brad Sherman
"Crying is for little girls, babies and men who just had their ears ripped off!" - Oobedoob "Scoobi-doobi" Benubi, Thumb Wars
Arrowed!

Let's let the water run and see what happens. You'll never know something you heard couldn't OR could be true.

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YOUNGSTOWN 2010

(SF)Great American said:

I just checked out CoasterGallery and SFGAmWorld. The sides of the laminated boards are actually still blue. It's just kind of hard to see. I couldn't really tell on the top: In some pictures, it looked like a very faded blue.

I checked both of those and I don't see that.

http://www.coastergallery.com/1999/SFGA02a.html

No offense, but if you can't see it in that picture, I think you're color blind. As for the tops of the rails, that's a bit different. The picture looking down the lift hill at SFGAmWorld is where the tops look most blue, but like I said, I can't really tell for sure.

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I hear America screaming...

I meant the inside!!