It didn't take long, but they are beginning to remove rides from the Astroworld property.
First to go, the 610 Limited, the parks railroad. Their diesel(made by the same company that manufactured the Great America trains) was the first to leave. There is one more live steam locomotive left on the property (shown in the second photo) The coaches for the train are in the last photos.
Nobody knows yet. It will turn up sometime and we will find out.
In reference to the RIP sign, I would hope that they are NOT scrapping or converting that steam locomotive. That would be and awful fate for a perfectly operable steam locomotive.
There are currently 2 Six Flags parks operating steam, St Louis and Over Texas. Thats down from four parks in under 3 years. Over Georgia ended their steam operation a few years back and gutted one of them and converted it to a growling diesel (budget cuts they said). Building an steam outline from the ground up (like Great America's are) is one thing, but destroying a steamer is an awful sin. A lot of people do not know what a steam locomotive is.
I realize the train is not the most popular ride in a park, but I think it deserves more respect than being scrapped.
greatamerica2003 wrote:Nobody knows yet. It will turn up sometime and we will find out.
There are currently 2 Six Flags parks operating steam, St Louis and Over Texas. Thats down from four parks in under 3 years. Over Georgia ended their steam operation a few years back and gutted one of them and converted it to a growling diesel (budget cuts they said). Building an steam outline from the ground up (like Great America's are) is one thing, but destroying a steamer is an awful sin. A lot of people do not know what a steam locomotive is.
I might be wrong, But doesnt PKI Still opperate a steam train on there less then spectacular railroad?
I know that Dollywood does for sure, i smelled like it afterwards. That train ride is something else, it leaves the park and wanders up the mountains around it.
RIP: Trailblazer and Deja Vu...heck, even Alien Encounter
The railroad at Astorworld, and at Great America and most other amusment parks is 36" gauge, or 36" between the rails. Conceviably you could take that Astroworld stuff and move it to another park that had a 36" railroad and it would run fine. All commercial railroads in the USA are 48 5/8" gauge, so the wheel base it too narrow.
And the PKI railroad is indeed steam, but the route is less than spectacular (in my opinion it sucks). But they do take great pride and care in their locomotives. Kudos to them
greatamerica2003 yes I was also going to tell msoeagle that the rail gauges are different. I didn't have exact dimensions like you do, though. For those of you that want to be technical, rail gauge is measured from the center, not inside, of each rail across the ties.
Cedar Point has a very nice collection of Steam Trains, I forget the stats but like about half are coal and half are propane.
Disney also has a good set, though if i'm not mistaken they are all propane (like SFStL's)
The most awesome (less than full guage) steam train I've ridden was at Lakeside in Denver, they only run it on weekends, and they day I was there it only ran for about 2 hours til something broke, but it was just incredible, being pulled around the lake by a coal fired steam train, throwing embers everywhere (I still have burn marks on the shirt I was wearing that day after riding in the front seat right behind the engine). Also they have a nifty car that rides at the back of the train that sprays water along both sides of the track to prevent fires.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073