Magic Mountain Mondays #25: Gordon Gear Works

It was only Gordon Gear Works for a short time. Apparently the DC license that SFMM had use of didn’t include the commissioner. And so it became Grinder Gear Works. I guess the name change was discussed late on a Friday. First thought, best thought and all that.

Oh, and hey - this ride is right outside the office of the VP of Operations. Be careful on that microphone.

In August of 1995, I took a bunch of photos (on film no less) at Six Flags Magic Mountain using an inexpensive camera. I was working as an Operations supervisor at the time, and the purpose of the project was to create a slide show for an employee appreciation party for our Operations staff. I’ve carted these slides around for over 25 years and I finally had them digitally transferred this year. About 2/3s of them aren’t available for posting because they are crew pictures and I have no way to request permission to post them. But I do have 50+ available that are just various shots of the park. Enjoy this time capsule from August 1995.

Magic Mountain Mondays #24: Acme Atom Smasher

Himalaya!

In August of 1995, I took a bunch of photos (on film no less) at Six Flags Magic Mountain using an inexpensive camera. I was working as an Operations supervisor at the time, and the purpose of the project was to create a slide show for an employee appreciation party for our Operations staff. I’ve carted these slides around for over 25 years and I finally had them digitally transferred this year. About 2/3s of them aren’t available for posting because they are crew pictures and I have no way to request permission to post them. But I do have 50+ available that are just various shots of the park. Enjoy this time capsule from August 1995.

Nanocoasters Volume #6 - Wildcat

Throwback nanocoaster! Obviously I like the nanocoaster models of current coasters. Somehow I now have over 2 dozen of them. And then they introduced “vintage” nanocoaster models of rollercoasters that have left this mortal plane (sure, I’m considering rollercoasters to be beings that are living or dead). So first up of these heritage models is Wildcat, the version that was located at Cedar Point from 1979 to 2011. This was a popular Schwarzkopf coaster model, compact with tight drops and turns. It’s like the modern wild mouse, but good. We rode this in the early 2000s and I’m always showing up for a Schwarzkopf.

Nanocoasters Volume #5 - Talon

Talon is a mid-sized B&M inverted coaster located at Dorney Park. We first rode in in 2021, unknowingly (to us) the coaster’s 20th anniversary. Unsurprisingly this is a fun ride, still running well. Not the biggest and not the fastest, but it doesn’t need to be. Dorney was a fun regional park and Talon was a key part of that.

Nanocoasters Volume #4 - Diamondback

I’m a dozen+ behind on nanocoaster posts, and I picked up ~15 of them on our August rollercoaster trip, so let’s pick this back up. Diamondback is a B&M hyper at Kings Island that is now in my top 3 B&M hypers. Unique train/seating position (offset 4 seat rows) and an overall fun layout. Well done.