thunderbolt85
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 10:28:49 AM
Just wanted to compare set up/tear down time with the Sizzler vs the Scrambler I used to work on. Smokey Mtn Amusements has it now, and to me it was a great ride and easy to move.

I worked with another guy and we had our best tear down at about an hour to hour and a half and set up in about two hours with smoke brks.

For any of you that have moved a sizzler what was your best set up or tear down time, and for any of you that moved a ground mtn Scrambler...ours was a trailer mtn.

Here is a picture of it on Carnival Mag, we were in Statesville NC if I remember correctly, we had come over from Lenoir NC and remember when that picture was taken that Sunday morning. You can see our Music Fest in the background setting up.

http://www.carnivalmag.c...childress-shows?start=40 
JustJeff
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 1:09:54 PM
I have worked on at least 6 different Scramblers---The last two here in Fl as green help and they used the open trailer which really sped things up IMO---The other 4 were on our show in New York---We had 1 on each of 3 units plus a spare one for awhile.We used the long enclosed trailers which meant a lot of parts got wrestled into the trailer then had to be moved some more to be put in place---The nice thing was they got rid of the ramps for the base and we used Chain falls to lift the base into the trailer...Much faster (and safer) than the ramps IMO..

To answer how long--tear down was always under 2 hours with 2 experienced and 2 greenies....Been done in as little as 1 and a half hours with some extra or how long till the bar closed..lol..

Set up---However long we had---Could take 3 hours or 3 days if we could get away with it...Never touched a sizzler--
jeff
Jackpotter
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 1:10:41 PM
Not to get off topic, but it's related...how many rides did Childress Shows carry at it's peak? What were some of their bigger spots?
thunderbolt85
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 2:35:20 PM
Originally Posted by: Jackpotter 

Not to get off topic, but it's related...how many rides did Childress Shows carry at it's peak? What were some of their bigger spots?



Lets see if I can remember those last years:

Sky Wheel
Nittany Giant Wheel (16)
Nittany Wheel (12)
Music Fest
Sea Ray
Scooters
Sky Liner
Gravitron
Scrambler
Tilt
2 Round-Ups
Tempest
Roll O Plane
Loop O Plane
Wipe Out (rethemed Casino)
Watkins Swinger
Fun House


2 MGR (3 abreast and 2 abreast)
4 Umbrellas
Slide
K. Coaster
Castlemania
Red Baron
Tubs of Fun
AH F-80s
Pony Carts
Musical Chairs
Bounce

Flying Boats
Bounce (both belong to Lloyd Serfass while he was with us)

Lloyd has several of our old rides now.


Childress didn't book a lot of equipment, but he did book some every now and then like the Rio Grande, Venture River, and a few others.

Those pictures show the last years, but also some of the other years like when we had the Himalaya, a Leap O Land, Rok-o-Plane, Flying Coaster and others.

Some of the best spots at the end were:

Hiawassee Ga Mtn Fair (it was really strong back then)
Statesville NC
Lenoir NC
Freedom Weekend Aloft
Orangeburg SC
and we had others plus some really strong festivals and spring spots.

3 plants when I worked there, one office trailer.

This was our "peak", but a couple of times there was a really big "spread" in Orangeburge with booked in rides (by the fair) where we had a Huss Ranger, Swiss Bobs, Wave Swinger, Hitting 2000 (wades now), second Scram, F&B Bumper Cars, Bumper Boats, Trooper, and a bunch of extra kiddie's booked on...that was a great looking midway for sure.

Childress did book some of his rides out a few times with Deggeller like the Himalaya, Trabant, Scram, and others at the Upper SC State Fair and the SC State Fair.
Jagger
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Tuesday, September 24, 2013 2:57:48 PM
Thunderbolt! Did you ever play Lancaster SC fair while you were with any shows?
thunderbolt85
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 3:34:57 PM
Originally Posted by: Jagger 

Thunderbolt! Did you ever play Lancaster SC fair while you were with any shows?



Lancaster sounds familier, seems like I remember hauling some rides in there one year, but even during fair season we had a few small but strong festivals that we took a few rides too and I was usually with them.

I don't remember being there for any amount of time other than to unhook and head out. Now I say that thinking it was Lancaster, we picked up some spot after we gave up Orangeburg SC and seems like that was the one.

Were you there?
Jagger
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Tuesday, September 24, 2013 4:03:38 PM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

Lancaster sounds familier, seems like I remember hauling some rides in there one year, but even during fair season we had a few small but strong festivals that we took a few rides too and I was usually with them.

I don't remember being there for any amount of time other than to unhook and head out. Now I say that thinking it was Lancaster, we picked up some spot after we gave up Orangeburg SC and seems like that was the one.

Were you there?



Yeah I've been going every year since I was kid im old man now 50 something but I remember Childress, Larry's, McDaniel bros ,Stine, Magic midways, Lawrence Carr, Wheeler Carnivals and A of A through the years were you with any of these shows?
squirrel
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 4:13:21 PM
Back to the original topic -- Up or down with a trailer mounted "Deluxe Sizzler" model from Wisdom: 45 minutes up (already loc'ed). 1 hour 10 minutes down (and hooked to a truck). Waiting for trailer hydraulics - they're faster putting the ride on the ground than they are picking it back up...

Our scrambler was on a high boy open van trailer. 2 hours up and 2:30 down (we had ramps to run our center up and down out of the traler. Kick her loose and where she stopped at the end of the ramps, that's where the ride was going. Tearing down took about 4 guys about 25 minutes to run her back into the trailer (running in a rotation with no stops)... That ride would make a man out of ya if you worked for us. By the end of the season, you were so upper-body strong from that Scrambler crank that the first person who crossed you was in for a rude awakening...


JustJeff
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 10:03:41 PM
Originally Posted by: secret.squirrel 

Back to the original topic -- Up or down with a trailer mounted "Deluxe Sizzler" model from Wisdom: 45 minutes up (already loc'ed). 1 hour 10 minutes down (and hooked to a truck). Waiting for trailer hydraulics - they're faster putting the ride on the ground than they are picking it back up...

Our scrambler was on a high boy open van trailer. 2 hours up and 2:30 down (we had ramps to run our center up and down out of the traler. Kick her loose and where she stopped at the end of the ramps, that's where the ride was going. Tearing down took about 4 guys about 25 minutes to run her back into the trailer (running in a rotation with no stops)... That ride would make a man out of ya if you worked for us. By the end of the season, you were so upper-body strong from that Scrambler crank that the first person who crossed you was in for a rude awakening...



That is what I loved about the chain falls...Your arms would burn and your biceps got huge working on that ride LOL---I unloaded 4 one winter (one at a time) and painted them and reloaded them with very little help.. Boss must have caught a hell of a sale on silver paint that fall...lol
thunderbolt85
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 8:38:48 AM
Originally Posted by: Jagger 

Yeah I've been going every year since I was kid im old man now 50 something but I remember Childress, Larry's, McDaniel bros ,Stine, Magic midways, Lawrence Carr, Wheeler Carnivals and A of A through the years were you with any of these shows?




I was with Childress, but that was one spot I didn't play, we may have been over with some rides at a festival, we had two good ones in the mid part of SC where we took about 8 rides and some joints.
JustJeff
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 8:42:56 AM
Originally Posted by: secret.squirrel 

Back to the original topic -- Up or down with a trailer mounted "Deluxe Sizzler" model from Wisdom: 45 minutes up (already loc'ed). 1 hour 10 minutes down (and hooked to a truck). Waiting for trailer hydraulics - they're faster putting the ride on the ground than they are picking it back up...

Our scrambler was on a high boy open van trailer. 2 hours up and 2:30 down (we had ramps to run our center up and down out of the traler. Kick her loose and where she stopped at the end of the ramps, that's where the ride was going. Tearing down took about 4 guys about 25 minutes to run her back into the trailer (running in a rotation with no stops)... That ride would make a man out of ya if you worked for us. By the end of the season, you were so upper-body strong from that Scrambler crank that the first person who crossed you was in for a rude awakening...



The thing about those ramps was that the slightest incline or decline created safety issues if not on set up ,then on tear down..Now we always had a saying that You have to be smarter than the Ride---but you know how that goes--you get to rushing a little bit,things going a little too smooth,then Boom--somebody gets hurt.

To be fair though, winching it up or down with chain falls can be hairy too---Just as the last bit of weight is lifted and the base is free of the downward gravity for just a split second and you can sense it rather than see or feel it--Hell it was like a brief adrenaline high for that second as you wait and see what chaos is about to happen....LOL---jeff

thunderbolt85
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 8:44:17 AM
Originally Posted by: JustJeff 

That is what I loved about the chain falls...Your arms would burn and your biceps got huge working on that ride LOL---I unloaded 4 one winter (one at a time) and painted them and reloaded them with very little help.. Boss must have caught a hell of a sale on silver paint that fall...lol




We used the chain fall as well to lower the top sweep (and raise it). Most of the time on tear down we just used "muscle" to lower them on tear down as that was easier, but on set up to line up the holes for the pins we used it instead of trying to hold it.

All we had to do to the center was break over the top and pin, thankfully.
thunderbolt85
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 8:46:49 AM
Originally Posted by: secret.squirrel 

Back to the original topic -- Up or down with a trailer mounted "Deluxe Sizzler" model from Wisdom: 45 minutes up (already loc'ed). 1 hour 10 minutes down (and hooked to a truck). Waiting for trailer hydraulics - they're faster putting the ride on the ground than they are picking it back up...

Our scrambler was on a high boy open van trailer. 2 hours up and 2:30 down (we had ramps to run our center up and down out of the traler. Kick her loose and where she stopped at the end of the ramps, that's where the ride was going. Tearing down took about 4 guys about 25 minutes to run her back into the trailer (running in a rotation with no stops)... That ride would make a man out of ya if you worked for us. By the end of the season, you were so upper-body strong from that Scrambler crank that the first person who crossed you was in for a rude awakening...




Not sure how bad it is on a Sizzler, but one thing that slowed things down and was a pain was putting the wheels back on, getting those pins lined up and then pushing the thing in. That was the only part I hated, and yes setting it down was a lot easier as well.
Scott
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013 10:15:04 AM
Originally Posted by: secret.squirrel 

Back to the original topic -- Up or down with a trailer mounted "Deluxe Sizzler" model from Wisdom: 45 minutes up (already loc'ed). 1 hour 10 minutes down (and hooked to a truck). Waiting for trailer hydraulics - they're faster putting the ride on the ground than they are picking it back up...

Our scrambler was on a high boy open van trailer. 2 hours up and 2:30 down (we had ramps to run our center up and down out of the traler. Kick her loose and where she stopped at the end of the ramps, that's where the ride was going. Tearing down took about 4 guys about 25 minutes to run her back into the trailer (running in a rotation with no stops)... That ride would make a man out of ya if you worked for us. By the end of the season, you were so upper-body strong from that Scrambler crank that the first person who crossed you was in for a rude awakening...



Ha Ha

JustJeff
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 10:30:47 AM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

We used the chain fall as well to lower the top sweep (and raise it). Most of the time on tear down we just used "muscle" to lower them on tear down as that was easier, but on set up to line up the holes for the pins we used it instead of trying to hold it.

All we had to do to the center was break over the top and pin, thankfully.



The top sweep we would do by hand-( we pulled the trailer back and forth to get close to the center-pop the pins and it was not too bad that way)..The bottom sweep was heavier so we used the chain falls on it...

The center--we would get up close with the trailer and set one of the three sides in place--we used 2 pieces of snow fence(about 4 inches long under the teeth (about 3 teeth in from each end)to prevent it from binding or pinching as we raised it up...(always got a third guy for that part.)..Another thing we would do was to put two big screwdrivers (one in each side) where the big long pins went,to keep it from sliding off in case somebody slipped or we didnt have the lift timed just right...

I could reminisce about Scramblers all day LOL...I was known as Scrambler jeff (among other names) For my first couple years.then I got more diversified as time went on and that name faded..jeff