HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cc5f+@andrew.cmu.edu (Cordell Obadele Carter)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: new topic - Steel Phantom musings
Date: 26 Dec 92 11:54:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.UfDBGee00VopM3k0ZA
	<1992Dec22.141107.15952@engage.pko.dec.com>
Organization: Senior, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Bill Buckley wrote:

>In fact, one of the reasons a lot of people are pissed at the ride is
>that Kennywood knows how much coaster enthusiasts loathe trim >brakes
and they were really talking up the fact that THEIR coaster >would be
balls-out-and-brakeless.  Yeah, for all of 2 days it was.

The reason they put the brakes in is because of complaints that the ride
was giving people neck sprains.  I don't know how much truth there is to
those claims (I didn't ride it before the trim brakes were added), but
the park was sued by more than one person because of injuries they
supposedly received riding the brakeless Phantom.  I guess they had to
put the brakes on to satisfy their insurance carriers.  It's a shame
everyone doesn't have an appreciation for wild rides!!!

>Things I would have changed:

>- Steeper 2nd drop (I don't like it's ramp-like angle!)

How steep is the second drop?  Does anyone know?  I measured the drop on
a couple of pictures I have with a protractor (not very accurate, I'm
sure) and I kept coming up with readings between 50 and 55 degrees.  So
I imagine it's probably the standard Arrow 55-degree angle.  Yet, in one
newspaper article, the park's owner said the drop would break "all
existing records" and an advertisement for the Pittsburgh Harley Hotel
lauds the Steel Phantom as "The World's Steepest Roller Coaster"!!  The
drop is "ramp-like" at the top, but it gets very steep at the bottom
when it slices through the Thunderbolt.  But I still doubt if it's the
steepest, even here.  What are the dimensions?

>- Having the ride wrap around up top and drop down into the gully a 2nd time

That would be nice.

>- better control over speed via the rides design to eliminate the need
  for pesky trim brakes.

I guess the engineers at Arrow though they were doing that.  Oh well.

>- I wish it had the new "Drachen Fire" style trains on it.  They are much
  >improved over the older Arrow car design in terms of comfortablility.

I've seen pictures and the new trains look fantastic.  I think they
would also improve the ride's quality.  Kennywood should have also put a
tunnel somewhere on it and themed the ride to match its unique name.

Although the Magnum is far better, the Phantom is 2nd on my steelies
list, despite  its faults.  I think it's still better than Arrow's other
stuff, like:
-The Corkscrews: like I said, I hate corkscrew loops.
-The Loch Ness Monster: Is *o.k.*, but really isn't an intense ride and
has no good drops except for the first one.
-Viper at Magic Mountain: I imagine since this is the biggest, baddest
mega-looping clone, its other two cousins are probably sorrier than it
is.  I mean, the ride's not bad, but it's not *that* good, either.  All
it does is turn you upside down.

--Cordell

  
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: cf170@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Kevin R. Russell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: new topic - Steel Phantom musings
Date: 23 Dec 1992 21:43:31 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: cf170@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Kevin R. Russell)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, cc5f+@andrew.cmu.edu (Cordell Obadele Carter) says:

>Kevin F Hulme writes:
>
>>Hi. I had the pleasure of riding the Steel Phantom this summer. (The >planet's
>>second best amusement ride, IMO.) Anyway, I loved the ride, and was >very
>>fascinated by the layout. I don't really have a question per se, but I am
>>just curious to see if anyone else out there has as great a respect for it
>>as I do
 Interesting tale from the Steel Phantom Press Day.

1.  A camera man for NBC rode the Phantom with a remote fish-eye lens attached
to a motor cycle helmet.  After the 3rd ride, they had to get him a cervical
coller to avoid neck strain.  And he was a big guy!

2.  One of the local news anchors tried to conduct interviews on the ride.

I think he managed four rides before they had to help him off.   He then sat
against the rail trying to avoid blowing chunks while the cameramen from the
other stations shot film of him.

Just some short tales
..
wq
-- 
Kevin				
"Friends don't let friends ride E.T."
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: xor@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Joe Schwartz)
Subject: Re: no more images in rec.roller-coaster
Organization: The Voice of Fate
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 04:49:38 GMT

In article <C01LJu.EKt@unix.portal.com> rivit@shell.portal.com (Russell Michael VanTassell) writes:

[in response to a suggestion to put coaster pictures in
alt.binaries.pictures.misc and to post notices here]

>Except for the ridiculous amount of traffic there.  Even if you read the
>group regularly, it can get pretty out-of-hand and have several hundred
>new messages in less than a day...

Who says you have to stay subscribed to that group?  When someone posts
a coaster picture there, you subscribe to it and search by keyword.
If everyone who posts coaster pictures uses a common keyword (like
"coaster"), then this is simple.  When you're done downloading the
pictures, you unsubscribe.
-- 
Joe Schwartz       E-mail: xor@acm.rpi.edu
MapInfo Corp.
200 Broadway       Disclaimer: "Everything I know is wrong."
Troy, NY 12180     Corollary:  "Nothing I say represents MapInfo Corp."
From: allyn@sdd.hp.com (Allyn Fratkin)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: magnum01.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc
Date: 27 Dec 1992 10:15:26 -0800
Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpsdlx.sdd.hp.com

magnum01.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc with
the following subject:
  - magnum01.jpg (1/3) {roller coaster} "magnum xl-200"

description of the image:
this is a shot of the magnum xl-200 at cedar point in sandusky, ohio.
the top of the first hill is approximately 200' above the ground.
it was taken in late august, 1992.
-- 
 From the virtual mind of Allyn Fratkin            allyn@sdd.hp.com
                          San Diego Division       - or -
                          Hewlett-Packard Company  uunet!ucsd!hp-sdd!allyn
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: buckley@powdml.enet.dec.com (Bill Buckley - Ride More Coasters!)
Subject: Chance Rides Inc's SKY DIVER
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 18:39:03 GMT


Anyone else notice that Chance Rides, Inc. of Wichita, KS has
taken their SKY DIVER ride out of production??  Yup -- this
classic spinner is now only available through special order!
8^(

I hope this ride doesn't go the way of their awesome TURBO.


Buck-a-roo

PS - Happy Holidays, everyone! 
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2685 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14635
From: allyn@sdd.hp.com (Allyn Fratkin)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: vortex01.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc
Date: 28 Dec 1992 19:00:37 -0800
Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpsdlx.sdd.hp.com

vortex01.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc with
the following subject:
  - vortex01.jpg (1/5) {roller coaster} "vortex at KI"

description of the image:
this is an aerial shot of the vortex at kings island in kings mill, ohio.
it is taken from the eiffel tower.  this photo was taken in late august,
1992.
-- 
 From the virtual mind of Allyn Fratkin            allyn@sdd.hp.com
                          San Diego Division       - or -
                          Hewlett-Packard Company  uunet!ucsd!hp-sdd!allyn
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2676 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14603
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: Re: no more images in rec.rol
Organization: MausNet (Mitglied im IN e.V.)
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14D/hb
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 22:24:00 +0000

Hello Russell,

Russell Michael VanTassell wrote in rec.roller-coaster:

> OK:   BETTER IDEA...

>         If we were to cut off Germany/England from the newsfeed for
> BINARIES ONLY.  That is, set the "Distribution:" line to "USA" or
> something... most of the sites here in the US are local enough to each
> other that they won't be bothered by that occassional big feed -- and
> Thorsten wouldn't have to worry about big phone bills from a series of
> 60k UUE's coming down the pipe.

>         What do you think about that idea?  Worthwhile?

I am not pretty sure, if this works. Does anybody have experience with
limiting the distribution to US ?

Another thing is, that I don't think, it is a problem with the
distribution. In the UK and in Germany there are large dedicated
sites as well as in the US and there might be a lot of people, who
want to view the pictures. I don't want to bee the cause,
that hundreds (or thousands :-)) of coaster enthusiasts in Europe can't
get the pictures anymore.

Bye for now,

Thorsten.
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2674 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14597
From: buckley@powdml.enet.dec.com (Bill Buckley)
Subject: Re: new topic - Steel Phantom musings
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 12:59:19 GMT


(Kevin F Hulme) writes...

>Hi. I had the pleasure of riding the Steel Phantom this summer. (The planet's
>second best amusement ride, IMO.) Anyway, I loved the ride, and was very
>fascinated by the layout. I don't really have a question per se, but I am
>just curious to see if anyone else out there has as great a respect for it
>as I do; 

Not really.  I think the ride has probably Arrow's BEST swooping drop to
date -- very Schwarzkopf-esque.  Other Arrow swooping drops (noteably the
tripliet of 7-loopers) seem to have a weird kink in them, and I don't like
them very much at all.  It's an *ok* ride, but I wouldn't say it's one of
the best around.


>maybe someone has a story to tell on its construction two years
>ago. (As many people now are discussing the building of the new Batman's ;
>was anyone out there around to document the day by day building of this
>ride?

Friends of mine in the Pittsburg area have photos of the rides construction
through completion.  No stories to tell on the Phanton, really, other than
the guy who had to manually dig the hole for one of the footings for the
second drop -- I guess he spent a bit of time in there!!


>Also, now many people are discussing rides before they are built (i.e Kumba,
>Batman's ,etc.) Did you guys know about the Phantom beforehand? Was it
>always known that it would have a record setting hill/speed, or did it
>just come about as the ride was costructed?

No, everyone had the stats on the Phantom well before it's grand opening.
In fact, one of the reasons a lot of people are pissed at the ride is
that Kennywood knows how much coaster enthusiasts loathe trim brakes,
and they were really talking up the fact that THEIR coaster would be 
balls-out-and-brakeless.  Yeah, for all of 2 days it was.  Putting the
trim brake on the ride really downed people's confidence in the park and
their promises (not to mention the fact it makes for a head-slamming finish!). 
Also, they were saying thatr the ride was going to have a tunnel over the 
helix, which never happened?!  Maybe they just should have kept shut about 
certain things until they were sure of what was going to be.


B.
From: rhino@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Gravity cologne spot.
Keywords: SCBB, Giant Dipper, not.
Date: 28 Dec 92 06:14:30 GMT
Reply-To: rhino@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us


   Sorry Buck, I checked with the head PR person at Seaside, and the answer
is no.  That is not the Dipper, unless they went off and filmed without
letting us know.  No one that I know of has seen the ad, so I can't help
there.

-Jim
rhino@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2677 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14604
From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 92 16:03:53 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Re: Chance Rides Inc's SKY DIVER
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

buckley@powdml.enet.dec.com (Bill Buckley - Ride More Coasters!) writes:
>
>Anyone else notice that Chance Rides, Inc. of Wichita, KS has
>taken their SKY DIVER ride out of production??  Yup -- this
>classic spinner is now only available through special order!
>8^(

Well, there's one permantly installed about an hour's drive from my
in-laws in northern Idaho (at Silverwood Theme Park, Athol Idaho). 
About $14 for a POP admission (includes all shows and rides, but not the
biplane or glider rides -- those are extra).  So I guess I'll be doing
ok for at least a little while. ;^)

BTW, speaking of Silverwood, I never mentioned in the discussion a while
back of slow corkscrew elements (where folks lauded the Anaconda for
it's slow corkscrew), Silverwood is home of the original Arrow
corkscrew, and it is incredibly slow through the corkscrew.  You
*definitely* need those restraints.  You'll be relying on them if you're
in the front or the middle of the train.  In back, you get taken through
the inversion more quickly, and pretty well stay in your seat.  The
first drop gives pretty good airtime from the middle seats and amazing
airtime in the back.  I generally stuck to the back, but this could
definitely be considered a middle seat ride. 

Of course, there was the concussion problem.  This ride was far too
rough.  And had original Arrow trains (huge horse collars with no
handles).

>PS - Happy Holidays, everyone! 

Indeed!  See y'all in January.

Geoff ``Actually, I'll be around, but suspect many of you won't'' Allen

-- 
Geoff Allen          \  In theory, there is no difference between theory
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \   and practice, but in practice, there is.
geoff@pauling.inel.gov \              -- Author unknown
Organization: Senior, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: beastpc.jpg (1/5)
Organization: MausNet (Mitglied im IN e.V.)
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14D/hb
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 21:18:00 +0000

Hello to all rec.roller-coaster reader,

I really appreciate Allyn posting the images of some really weird coasters,
but I can't afford so much traffic, because my Usenet-News feed is
in England and I make an international call every day to get the latest
news in coastermania and other interesting newsgroups.
If you don't mind, please put the images on a public FTP-site, so
everybody can get them, but do not post them to this normally non-binary
newsgroup.

Thank you very much in advance,

Thorsten.
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2688 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14638
From: allyn@sdd.hp.com (Allyn Fratkin)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: mstreakc.jpg posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc
Date: 28 Dec 1992 09:17:38 -0800
Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpsdlx.sdd.hp.com

mstreakc.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc with
the following subject:
  - mstreakc.jpg (1/7) {roller coaster} "postcard of the mean streak"

description of the image:
this is a scan of a cedar point postcard with a really good photo
of the mean streak.
-- 
 From the virtual mind of Allyn Fratkin            allyn@sdd.hp.com
                          San Diego Division       - or -
                          Hewlett-Packard Company  uunet!ucsd!hp-sdd!allyn
From: allyn@sdd.hp.com (Allyn Fratkin)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: racer01.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc
Date: 28 Dec 1992 18:59:41 -0800
Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpsdlx.sdd.hp.com

racer01.jpg has been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.misc with
the following subject:
  - racer01.jpg (1/4) {roller coaster} "racer at KI"

description of the image:
this is an aerial shot of most of the racer at kings island in kings 
mill, ohio.  it is taken from the eiffel tower.  the photo was taken in
late august, 1992.
-- 
 From the virtual mind of Allyn Fratkin            allyn@sdd.hp.com
                          San Diego Division       - or -
                          Hewlett-Packard Company  uunet!ucsd!hp-sdd!allyn
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: rivit@shell.portal.com (Russell Michael VanTassell)
Subject: Re: Coaster pictures...
Organization: Portal Communications Company -- 408/973-9111 (voice) 408/973-8091 (data)
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 22:19:30 GMT

In article <P6630@MK.maus.de> Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz) writes:

>Russell Michael VanTassell wrote in rec.roller-coaster:
>
>> Personally, I think it would be pretty cool -- especially since there
>> seems to be a renewed interest in pictures as-well-as discussion.  We
>> might see a new flock of people to emerge along with this as well, as
>> news readers across the world come back with
>> 'rec.roller-coaster.pictures not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [nyNY]'
>
>Great idea. Do you post a CFD in news.groups ?

Well, thanks... but to tell you the truth, I do not really know how
much is involved in splitting the group -- or having it done.  Give
me some idea on how to get the ball rolling in the right direction,
and I will see about getting it done; unless, of course, there is
some major objection (I think major approval would be required to be
able to even make the change, however -- and there does not seem to
be a whole lot of people here who are willing to vote one way or the
other).

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
RiViT@shell.portal.com                                      russ@mce.com
               Is a juggler just a talented individual...
                  or a schizophrenic playing catch...
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2680 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14607
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: no more images in rec.roller-
Organization: MausNet (Mitglied im IN e.V.)
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14D/hb
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 16:11:00 +0000

Hello Allyn,

Allyn Fratkin wrote in rec.roller-coaster:

> i am really sorry to have caused you or anybody else undue hardship.
> i have seen images and binary files posted here recently (for example,
> ken denton's 9-part gif of drachen fyre) without negative comments.

Normally, I don't bother getting some nice pictures, but the last week
traffic report in this group was near 2MB and that's a little bit more
than the normal traffic.

> it didn't occur to me that there would be sites where large postings
> to rec.roller-coaster would be unwanted.

The normal Internet-Sites, which carry all newsgroups, won't bother, if
somebody posts pictures to a talk-group, but there are a lot of small
UUCP-sites, who are interested in roller-coasters, but still have a
2400bps modem for their newsfeed. To these sites, the traffic is very
important.

> in any case, it appears that images are not welcome in
> rec.roller-coaster.

That might be a wrong impression, because I was the only one, who
complained about the pictures. I think, there are a lot of people,
who like the images (me too, but if my telephone bill gets to astronomic
heights, I am thinking, how much I like them :-)).

> from now on, i will post images only to alt.binaries.pictures.misc, and
> post a pointer to each image in rec.roller-coaster.  does that meet
> with everyone's approval?

That's perfect.

Bye for now and a happy new year to you all,

Thorsten.
From: v120p993@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Kevin F Hulme)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: new topic - Steel Phantom musings
Date: 22 Dec 92 00:16:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Hi. I had the pleasure of riding the Steel Phantom this summer. (The planet's
second best amusement ride, IMO.) Anyway, I loved the ride, and was very
fascinated by the layout. I don't really have a question per se, but I am
just curious to see if anyone else out there has as great a respect for it
as I do; maybe someone has a story to tell on its construction two years
ago. (As many people now are discussing the building of the new Batman's ;
was anyone out there around to document the day by day building of this
ride? Must have been a "drawer soaking" moment to see that second hill go
up; damn, that thing is cool.)

Also, now many people are discussing rides before they are built (i.e Kumba,
Batman's ,etc.) Did you guys know about the Phantom beforehand? Was it
always known that it would have a record setting hill/speed, or did it
just come about as the ride was costructed?

Lastly, when I was there, I had to capture the second hill on film. I exited
the park, climbed over a park border fence, ran(painfully) down a 70 foot
incline, craled through some bushes and poison ivy (all in a Maintanence
only zone of the park!) to capture some shots of the hill, from outside
the coaster border chain link fence. I like my photos, but they are not
quite straight ahead, at the hill. Has anyone else obtained photos, by
a siomilar adventure or from magazine, of this architectural wonder of
a hill? I'd like to get my hands on something of the like.

Any elaborations appreciated; thanks for listening.

                             Kevin H.
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2684 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14634
From: rivit@shell.portal.com (Russell Michael VanTassell)
Subject: Coaster pictures...
Organization: Portal Communications Company -- 408/973-9111 (voice) 408/973-8091 (data)
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 22:33:33 GMT


Yeah, I know everyone tends to balk at ideas like this, but someone
crazy like me has to sugges it (NFP).  What would people think of
petitioning for this group to be split -- just to group the subject
matter appropriately?  That is, a rec.roller-coaster.misc  and a
rec.roller-coaster.pictures???  This, as opposed to wasting the group
out in alt.binaries or something...

Personally, I think it would be pretty cool -- especially since there
seems to be a renewed interest in pictures as-well-as discussion.  We
might see a new flock of people to emerge along with this as well, as
news readers across the world come back with
'rec.roller-coaster.pictures not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [nyNY]'

Just a thought...

RiViT
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
RiViT@shell.portal.com                                      russ@mce.com

#include <signature.h>
Xref: sparky rec.roller-coaster:2686 alt.binaries.pictures.misc:14636
From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 22:55:11 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Re: Coaster pictures...
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

rivit@shell.portal.com (Russell Michael VanTassell) writes:
>Well, thanks... but to tell you the truth, I do not really know how
>much is involved in splitting the group -- or having it done.  Give
>me some idea on how to get the ball rolling in the right direction,
>and I will see about getting it done; unless, of course, there is
>some major objection (I think major approval would be required to be
>able to even make the change, however -- and there does not seem to
>be a whole lot of people here who are willing to vote one way or the
>other).

You *could* post a Request For Discussion (RFD) to
news.announce.newgroups (the whole group creation procdeure is described
in one of the regular postings to news.announce.newusers, among other
groups).

But what I predict would happen is a large outcry of the nature of ``Fer
crying out loud, rec.roller-coaster is one of the *smallest* newsgroups
on the net!  You can't justify splitting it!  Bah!''

And remember, you need 100 more yes than no votes *and* at least 2/3 yes
in order for a group to pass.

I don't think it would stand a chance.

Geoff

-- 
Geoff Allen          \  Disneyland is going to be a place where you can't
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  get lost or tired unless you want to.
geoff@pauling.inel.gov \                    -- Walt Disney, 1953