Whatever happened to the Pipeline coaster?

I see it on TV every now and then...it was talked about several years ago, but I'm wondering what happened to the Pipeline idea? Did they just build a prototype and call it quits? It looks interesting...but then again, I thought a 200+ ft. wood coaster looked interesting until I rode it, but I digress...
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Ohio...so many coasters...
...so little summertime.

It was plauged with problems. Arrow even "sold" one to Alton Towers (but the transaction didn't go through and they got Nemisis). There were many issues...$ for development, capacity, etc, but my own speclulation was that it was an unnecessary design. Permit me to explain... Arrow couldn't do wild maneuvers with their track and train design so they went about developing something totally new and radical to achieve those elements. At the very same time this was being developed and promoted a Swiss company (and several of their neighbors) were starting to successfully produce and popularize a new breed of traditional track and train coasters that were fully capable of doing barrel rolls, while still having the range of lateral motion that a traditional track style allows.
I could be totally wrong with this, but I wonder if the Arrow Pipeline would have broken through if certain Swiss companies had never produced rides. Just a thought.

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- Peabody

Accually Arrow had 2 lined up for AT. SW1 and SW2 were both Pipelines, I belive SW1 was a larger one which fell through, then SW2, it's replacement, fell through also. Then as Peabody said, Nemisis came along as SW3.

BTW, if you didn't know, SW (Secret Weapon) is Alton Tower's codename for Pipeline 1, Pipeline 2, Nemisis (3), Oblivion (4), and AIR (5). I've heard that SW5 was supposed to be built before SW4, but it was still in development so they let SW4 take the lead.

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I have no signature.

An old issue of Inside Track said that Morey's Pier in Wildwood was going to become home to the first one. Of course, that never happened, and the pier got the Great Nor'easter (SLC) in 1995.

I also remember reading (somewhere, not sure where) that the Kamikaze coaster that was constructed on Hunt's Pier in 1989 (Vekoma custom looper) was originally destined for Morey's Pier. If that actually happened, I guess it would still be in Wildwood and not at SFOG.

*** This post was edited by Rob Ascough on 1/22/2002. ***

The Arrow Pipeline that actually got made was an attempt by Intamin, which was placed in a building somewhere in Brazil. Though of course, not an Arrow, this design has almost 100% of the Arrow style that they developed.

Im guessing the design was bought from Arrow so Intiman could build it (sort of how Vekoma uses specs from Arrow with permission) , but don't hold me to that.

*** This post was edited by john peck on 1/22/2002. ***

Yeah B & M gave Arrow the last stab with the knife, but it was a knife that they put it in by their selves. The only one for blaming bad coasters and tecnology, is the manyfactor them selves.

...*rolling eyes*...
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Don't.....look.....back! The Headless Horseman awaits you in 2002!
Model coasters and rides

http://www.coasterglobe.com/features/history-pipeline/index.cfm

Is the pipeline coaster any fun to ride?

I was looking at a picture of it in a coaster book and it just looks like a different more elaborate version of the Space Diver model Intamin made. It has the turns that turn upside down then drop into a half loop. BTW, Arrow also didn't have a way to transport the coaster trains on the track to the top of a hill. The was the track was designed disabled any chains or such to run under the track or be connected to the track in any way. The wheels where located on the side also.

timmyk said:
Is the pipeline coaster any fun to ride?

You're asking if AIR is any fun to ride, only 10 years ago, when nobody knew anything about AIR. There has not been one built, so no one knows (well, a few do, but nobody here. Some people rode the prototype at the factory.)

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I have no signature.

Plenty of people in the industry rode the prototype section that everyone has watched on tv. Some included the Moreys, Six Flags engineers, the Geauga Lake staff, and the Knotts. It just plain didn't work for lots of reasons, such as capacity ( see Vekoma Flying Dutchman), and vehicle issues, as the tv show stated. Only Ron Toomer really knows why, but I don't think he would have approved a prototype installation. They made a sound business decision in moving on to other projects.

As for the Hunt's Pier Kami-kazi, that is whole other story on the developement.

When SFMM was taking bids for their 1996 project Arrow submitted a bid for a pipeline coaster. It was a huge monster that would have stretched that same small part of land on the hill as a multi out-and-back. I've seen the bluleprints and car artwork. As we all know SFMM went with Intamin and got STE.

The pipeline was dropped by Arrow as it couldn't gain very much momentum, due to high friction. The one in the shopping mall was in Korea, at the Sky Plaza, built by Intamin. If you look closely at it on certain pics you can see drive wheels on the underside as it goes through an inverted turn/corkscrew manouvre. It was recently removed as it was attached to the building, and vibration has caused structural damage to the buildings' foundations, and support pillars. The pipeline designs for Alton were SW2&3. As the rides momentum had high friction losses, and Alton are severly height restricted, the ride was a waste of time really. SW1 was a Schwarzkopf coaster, a non-inverting custom design, quite like Lisebergbahn, through the woods at the back of the corkscrew, and it was long, had 3 lifts, 2 of them were side by side, and the following track sections raced, so it was a part-racing coaster! The Schwarzkopf deal was dropped when John Broome sold Towers when he was trying to raise funds to convert Battersea Power Station in London into an indoor park. Pearsons got hold of it and we got Nemesis instead, still would've liked that Schwarzkopf though...wow, I think I know everything today!

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