wvscott
  •  wvscott
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Monday, August 5, 2019 8:49:09 AM
if you read some of the posts lately from the Strates FB page, it sounds like they wish they still had their own Skywheel. The refer to it as the "king of the midway"
ridejocky
Monday, August 5, 2019 12:21:51 PM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

Interesting, question though (if you were still with them when they had it), how did the Super Sizzler match up to the Scrambler since Strates had both on the midway for a while, but he got rid of the S. Sizzler first.

Also, few other questions if you remember:

What year did he drop the Rock O Plane (loved the green/yellow and green/white colors).

Did Strates own a Paratrooper, or did he just book one (never saw one in Anderson).



I don't remember the getting the Sizzler

Not sure when he dropped the Rok-O-Plane, but I know he had it in the late '70s and early '80s. I would guess mid-late '80s. Wasn't it blue for a while?


I seem to remember a Paratrooper but wouldn't swear to it.

Remember the Flying Coaster?


Ride the Zipper?
ridejocky
Monday, August 5, 2019 12:24:32 PM
Originally Posted by: wvscott 

if you read some of the posts lately from the Strates FB page, it sounds like they wish they still had their own Skywheel. The refer to it as the "king of the midway"



It's also a ride that could last forever with a little maintenance


Ride the Zipper?
Bill P
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Monday, August 5, 2019 1:20:45 PM
Strates got rock-o-plane & Loop-o-plane in 1974, I think. had them into 80's or early 90's.
Had a early paratrooper from 1960-1968, then a rim drive from '69 into 80's, maybe 90's.

Flying coaster on the midway from 1961 till about '79.
thunderbolt85
Monday, August 5, 2019 3:00:26 PM
Originally Posted by: ridejocky 

I don't remember the getting the Sizzler

Not sure when he dropped the Rok-O-Plane, but I know he had it in the late '70s and early '80s. I would guess mid-late '80s. Wasn't it blue for a while?


I seem to remember a Paratrooper but wouldn't swear to it.

Remember the Flying Coaster?




Flying Coaster is a little far back for me. I remember the Tip Top, Yo-Yo, Big German FunHouse, the old MGR, and a few others.

Seems I remember them getting the Super Sizzler about the same time they had the Hi-Roller (sold to Deggeller) and close to the time when he got the Zipper. He only kept it for a few years before it was gone. Saw a Tomahawk/Kamikaze on the show one year and on the train (pix).
thunderbolt85
Monday, August 5, 2019 3:01:32 PM
Originally Posted by: Bill P 

Strates got rock-o-plane & Loop-o-plane in 1974, I think. had them into 80's or early 90's.
Had a early paratrooper from 1960-1968, then a rim drive from '69 into 80's, maybe 90's.

Flying coaster on the midway from 1961 till about '79.



Good information, thanks!
ridejocky
Wednesday, August 7, 2019 12:48:49 AM
Originally Posted by: Bill P 

Strates got rock-o-plane & Loop-o-plane in 1974, I think. had them into 80's or early 90's.
Had a early paratrooper from 1960-1968, then a rim drive from '69 into 80's, maybe 90's.

Flying coaster on the midway from 1961 till about '79.



I think he dropped the Rock-O-Plane in the mid to late '80s. I think it was before '88 because I think I remember living it at the barn. Pretty sure the loop was dropped a few years before the rock.

Remember the guy (Eddie?) that tried to jump through the loop-o-plane while it was running and got all f'ed up? Before my time but he came back and went to work on the new Himalaya ('79?) with Darrel, he didn't last long.

I had a guy (David Kinkaid, AKA Shamoo) try to make it from the loading platform to the exit platform through the pit on the Pirate at full swing once. He slipped and almost fell, never tried it again...

I believe the Flying Coaster came back out for a few years in the '80s. I think it had orange tubs, ant them was repainted with green tubs or visa-versa. We used to joke it was "on the rag" because we wrapped kotex around the cylinder rams to keep the oil from leaking down onto the sweeps. That thing always seemed to win pretty good money for what it was.


Ride the Zipper?
thunderbolt85
Wednesday, August 7, 2019 6:55:07 AM
Makes me think of some dumb stuff we did, rode on the step of the Scrambler tub sometimes from the back to the front, it jerked one time and I hit the ground, never did that again.

Guys used to get hang time on the Casino/Trabant usually when it was switching from forwards to backwards.

Guys on the Skywheel would ride the outside of the tubs sometimes, mainly on the bottom wheel to get to the center axle.

Tell you an interesting story on Strates, was working a long range for a pair of brothers I had met a few years before. Well one of them gave me an orange Strates hat, which seemed to draw a lot of attention and some angry looks. Now I wasn't told and didn't know right away that those were "management" hats. Well, a guy that worked the Sky Ride later advised of this and I took it off out of respect and of course that I wasn't management.
wvscott
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Wednesday, August 7, 2019 9:29:42 AM
here is a link to a video I took of the Strates Train heading south for the final time with the coaches, and also the final ride for the Top Spin. You can see all 4 loads of the Giant Wheel. I can't remember the year for sure, but I took this in Sharpsburg MD. Sorry about the quality as this was taken with an older phone

Strates train with giant wheel 

here are also a few photos I took sometime about 1998 at Gaithersburg MD of the Giant Wheel base load getting set up. At that spot the base load traveled by ground as the train was not on site yet when I took the pictures.

SW1.jpg

Click to View Image27 View(s)

SW2.jpg

Click to View Image26 View(s)

SW3.jpg

Click to View Image28 View(s)

ridejocky
Wednesday, August 7, 2019 12:04:14 PM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

Makes me think of some dumb stuff we did, rode on the step of the Scrambler tub sometimes from the back to the front, it jerked one time and I hit the ground, never did that again.

Guys used to get hang time on the Casino/Trabant usually when it was switching from forwards to backwards.

Guys on the Skywheel would ride the outside of the tubs sometimes, mainly on the bottom wheel to get to the center axle.

Tell you an interesting story on Strates, was working a long range for a pair of brothers I had met a few years before. Well one of them gave me an orange Strates hat, which seemed to draw a lot of attention and some angry looks. Now I wasn't told and didn't know right away that those were "management" hats. Well, a guy that worked the Sky Ride later advised of this and I took it off out of respect and of course that I wasn't management.



We used to ride the V-lights around on the diver. Jump on and off the tubs on the bobs and Himalaya, walk through the skywheel when it was running, ride on the back of the scooter cars, slide under the bobs tubs on the hill.

Bobs was running backward and I was swinging a tub load of girls and got hit in the a** so hard by a swinging tub so hard it knocked me out of my boots


Ride the Zipper?
Bill P
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Wednesday, August 7, 2019 2:19:59 PM
Strates got the Super Sizzler in 1990, I think. It was out with Sofo Amusements in 2000 when they had the SkyWheel and I believe Sofo had it until after NYSF in 2001 when it went back on the train. The Hi Roller came in around 1993 along with the zipper, demon world and new scooter. '94 saw the new Starship 2000, Music Express & the Ranger/ Terminator [kamakaze] They traded the Terminator for the wacky worm in 1995. Orbiter was on the show from 1991-2000, replaced by Remix in 2001. Remix went back to England a few years later.
wvscott
  •  wvscott
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Saturday, September 21, 2019 8:32:42 AM
during the posted video on the NAME FB page, they mentioned that NAME is getting a 150' tall new Giant Wheel that will use 22 trailers. Does anybody know more about this new NAME wheel?


also, I read the other day that a new very large wheel will be at the NC State Fair this year, and that article said "it" will be the tallest traveling wheel in the US. Does anybody know about this one?


everybody claims to have the biggest wheel it seems, but 22 trailers seems right up there with the RCS LaGrande XL Wheel
thunderbolt85
Monday, September 23, 2019 6:53:35 AM
Interesting news on NAME and their new wheel, thanks for posting.
Tornado
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 3:57:26 PM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

Interesting news on NAME and their new wheel, thanks for posting.




remember some time back there was an ad for a Lamberink 46m Giant wheel that someone in the US purchased and then backed out after it had arrived in the US. this is perhaps the one NAME is getting...

The wheel at the NC State Fair will be the Wade-Wood wheel as it is the tallest wheel currently traveling in North America...
Tornado
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 4:10:01 PM
Originally Posted by: wvscott 

it seems whenever you read an article about large events, the large wheels are always described as one of the most popular rides. Who all exactly moves a very large wheel (bigger than chance giant wheel) and what do you know about them (loads) ?

Here is what I could find so far from what I read as quoted by the show owners in news articles:

Reithoffer has a Dutch Wheel they move (120 feet high - 4 trailers) purchased in 1986

Strates (126 feet high - 4 trailers)

RCS has 3 very large wheels, one called the Big Wheel (108 feet high - not sure number of loads), another called the Grand Wheel (108 feet high - not sure number of loads) and also the La Grande Wheel XL (164 feet high - 22 trailers) purchased in 2017. RCS had all 3 set up at Houston.

Wood/Wade Sky Eye Wheel (150 feet high - 12 trailers) purchased in 2017

Powers Parthenon Wheel (108 feet high - 4 trailers) purchased in 2016

Talley Amusements Giant Wheel (108 feet high - 4 trailers) purchased in 2018

are there others?






I believe the Reithoffer and Strates wheels are both 33 or 34 meters, just like:

Conklin's old giant dutch wheel
Deggeller's old giant dutch wheel
RCS's older Grand Wheel and newer Big wheel
Powers giant dutch wheel
Talley's giant dutch wheel

I think the best looking one of them ALL is Talley's...

Also, I remember seeing once a giant dutch wheel on a show out of Quebec Canada (Amusements Spectacular (or something like that) that had a giant with the mechanics/drives to run the wheel mounted on it own trailer. Was never able to get pictures of the wheel though 😞
It was a unique wheel. Not sure what became of it...