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Six Flags Over Texas’ Runaway Mine Train


Wild West Mine Train by Zamperla at Ocean Park, Hong Kong


Thrilling theme park guests for almost half a decade, the runway mine train is a classic attraction that now features at many parks around the globe. This family-friendly style of coaster provides enough of a kick to keep all ages happy, and for park operators it presents a handful of ready-made theming opportunities. Paul Ruben toasts the ride’s runway success


Runaway success! T


Mine trains prove enduring park favourite


he first runaway mine train (originally called Run-A-Way Mine Train) was built in 1966 in the Boomtown section of Six Flags Over Texas in


Arlington, Texas. It is now the oldest rollercoaster in the park. The ride was the first of many mine train coasters built across the United States in response to the development of tubular steel rails. The Arrow Development Company, led by Karl Bacon and Ed Morgan, and eventually by Ron Toomer, advanced steel rollercoaster technology into a new era, and it was a Disney ride that was pivotal in allowing them to do so.


The ride that started it all: Arrow’s Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas


Mammut at Gardaland


The appearance of the runaway mine train was based on the success Arrow enjoyed with the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland in California, the world's first rollercoaster to use tubular steel rails. It led to future coaster business for Arrow. In an April 1993 Park World interview, Karl Bacon recalled “The


Six Flags people wanted a runaway train. We named it the Runaway Train but they wanted a vehicle that would run through the park, carry people, and be somewhat similar to a coaster.”


“It was also themed to their park,” Ed Morgan noted. “It was an old-fashioned mine train that got loose and tore its way through the mine. They were attracted by the success of the Matterhorn.” “The first runaway train had three lifts,” explained Bacon. “It would start out from the dispatch point, go down and run out of gas, then pick up a lift and establish enough head to go through the next part of the course. Then came the third lift. It was the forerunner of the large coasters that we eventually built.”


Bacon acknowledged that the development of the mine train presented unique problems. “The first course for Six Flags was really too violent. We found


Alton Towers’ Runaway Mine Train is one of several powered coasters from Mack


40


LEFT: Jungle Racing by Vekoma at Happy Valley Beijing


APRIL 2014


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