I'm glad that whoever shot this footage decided to film the original trains on this coaster for posterity, so that people like me, who had yet to be born at the time this footage was shot, can see when it was like. Since I was born 2 days after Christmas in 1988, there has basically been no point in my lifetime that this coaster didn't have it's present day Morgan trains, since I understand those were installed in 1989.
I grew up in a house right on the edge of the Playland parking lot. As you can imagine, I rode the Dragon probably over a thousand times. This was back in the 60s and 70s. It's a shame that they put in those lightweight Morgan trains. They did it to reduce track maintenance, but these trains have reduced the Dragon Coaster to a shadow of its former self. Back in the day, you could really feel the massive weight and momentum of those beautifully designed trains. It was an incredible experience. I would almost say that the structure, track and trains all resonated together and made it an incredible ride. Now, it's just a mediocre ride. That's "progress" for you. Unfortunately Playland has lost its sense of responsibility of preserving this beautiful piece of Americana on the Long Island Sound. Just look at the Derby Racer, a beautiful Prior & Church creation with horses that approach 30 mph. Back when I was young, the Charles Illions-carved horses were painted as works of art. A few years ago, the management decided to deface them with simple park paint. I hope that someday Westchester gets out of the amusement park business and that someone who will care for this treasure will start to manage it. Westchester loses four million dollars a year on this park, and its little wonder they can't maintain it properly.
Fantastic. How did you ever convert the film into video, because I know back in 1987 they hadn't invented video yet for cell phones along with digital cameras.
I have ridden the Dragon Coaster when they used the Prior & Church trains. I think that they were better than the present Morgan trains. It probably would be possible to use wooden trains once again on the Dragon Coaster, but they would have to be replicas of the old Prior & Church trains.
@@vidwilzvids9587: I don't think that the weight was the problem with the old trains. It was probably certain safety and maintenance issues. The "Cyclone" at Coney Island still uses the original wooden trains and they're better than the fiberglass trains.
vidwilzvids Absolutely! Much, much heavier than their Morgan fiberglass counterparts. Each of the seven car on the P&C trains probably weigh in the ballpark of 1500 - 2000 pounds. Thats potentially 7 tons of weight including passengers, Morgan is at least half of that. They don’t make them like they used too!
Rye Playland also probably sees less stress/maintenance on the track structure. I wonder if there had to be any changes to the track profile or the underneath guide rails to accommodate the lighter trains that also had no flanges on the load-bearing wheels..
vidwilzvids There was no track work done to accommodate the new trains, the trains were built for the ride. Same goes for the installation of the same trains on the Giant Dippers in California, much less costly to make a train that already fits the track gauge and design, than to retrack an entire ride and still have to buy the trains. Without a doubt Playland sees a maintenance cut, but the public loses out by having a less than stellar ride. While I don’t believe the original trains will make the ride better by leaps and bounds, anything would help that boring layout. As a roller coaster enthusiast and historian, I would love to see them run again as they truly are one of a kind and best said to be the Rolls Royce of roller coaster trains.
Whats really amazing about how much these old trains weighed is that none of these rides (the GDs or Dragon) have any meaningful batter bracing, they mainly just use guy wires (Santa Cruz has a brace in it's first curve that was added after the fact). I believe P&C's track designed distributed the weight in a way that it was always running forward ahead of the train and thus spread out over more bents, sort of like a spring. Super ahead of it's time and something that has really never been attempted again as their track is expensive and complicated to construct.
The removal of Dragon's Prior & Church trains is one of the worst things to ever happen to any roller coaster I've ridden that's still operating. Equal to that is Giant Dipper not restoring & using their P&C trains and curses to Dana Morgan for strong-arming that decision. But Dragon...wow! The P&C trains rode like tanks and were exceptionally comfy and the most drop-dead beautiful things I've ever laid eyes on on a roller coaster. I had the privilege and honor of maybe 50-75 rides on these classics. I have not, and will not ride Dragon with Morgans.
I agree. It's really hard being a hobbyist sometimes because I must realize that it all comes down, almost always, to the dollar. There are exceptions...Knoebels, Kennywood, Mission Beach, Coney Island Cyclone, and a few others truly do put great weight on historical significance of their park, rides, and coasters.
Im right there with you. There is also the problem of being up to safety codes. When the ride continually operates with the original equipment, that stuff is grandfathered in. With the Mission Beach Giant Dipper, the ride closed for a while. In order to reopen it needed to meet current standards and I don’t think the P&C trains make the cut. Plus maintenance is a high priority as well, they would rather save money then have a ride that is better.
Good point about safety codes which are probably becoming more stringent from day to day. Designing and building two custom articulated trains from P&C blueprints would almost certainly be way yonder beyond the Dragon Coaster's share of the budget. Also, I believe that Rye Playland is on the national registry of historical places. That means that the feds have a say in how Rye maintains and upgrades the equipment that the public is exposed to. The third voting block is the insurance companies.They will go with Morgan's track record. A lot of bases to touch before you make a decision about how to upgrade, overhaul, rebuild, and/or re-design a ninety year-old thrill ride.
Kurt Brigandi - Mission Beach/San Diego was planning on restoring one of the P&C trains to run on Giant Dipper, but Dana Morgan, who was part of the San Diego Coaster Company (a small team of well-healed amusement park/roller coaster professionals, designers, engineers, managers & owners) insisted they use his trains on the ride. If they didn't, Dana Morgan was going to step out of the effort to restore Giant Dipper. Prior & Church trains run safely on the PNE Coaster, and the Vancouver Coaster to this day. Unfortunately, we must endure Morgans on both Giant Dippers. I long for the day when Morgan trains are extinct, and on the Giant Dippers and Dragon, replaced with GCIs or Timberliners.
I wish that GCI would make a 4-seater version of Millennium Flyer trains that is similar to those Church’s 4-seater trains.
Thank God for this video!! That's how I remember it, the back seat was the best!
I'm glad that whoever shot this footage decided to film the original trains on this coaster for posterity, so that people like me, who had yet to be born at the time this footage was shot, can see when it was like. Since I was born 2 days after Christmas in 1988, there has basically been no point in my lifetime that this coaster didn't have it's present day Morgan trains, since I understand those were installed in 1989.
Love those trains!
Do you have any video of The Old Mill? That ride was right under this one.
I grew up in a house right on the edge of the Playland parking lot. As you can imagine, I rode the Dragon probably over a thousand times. This was back in the 60s and 70s. It's a shame that they put in those lightweight Morgan trains. They did it to reduce track maintenance, but these trains have reduced the Dragon Coaster to a shadow of its former self. Back in the day, you could really feel the massive weight and momentum of those beautifully designed trains. It was an incredible experience. I would almost say that the structure, track and trains all resonated together and made it an incredible ride. Now, it's just a mediocre ride. That's "progress" for you. Unfortunately Playland has lost its sense of responsibility of preserving this beautiful piece of Americana on the Long Island Sound. Just look at the Derby Racer, a beautiful Prior & Church creation with horses that approach 30 mph. Back when I was young, the Charles Illions-carved horses were painted as works of art. A few years ago, the management decided to deface them with simple park paint. I hope that someday Westchester gets out of the amusement park business and that someone who will care for this treasure will start to manage it. Westchester loses four million dollars a year on this park, and its little wonder they can't maintain it properly.
They probably get some kind of tax brake being a National Historic Place. It is still probably difficult to get any black ink.
Fantastic. How did you ever convert the film into video, because I know back in 1987 they hadn't invented video yet for cell phones along with digital cameras.
Amazing footage ...shame they replaced them for the awful morgan trains..Like the Giant Dipper at Belmont Park😢
I have ridden the Dragon Coaster when they used the Prior & Church trains. I think that they were better than the present Morgan trains. It probably would be possible to use wooden trains once again on the Dragon Coaster, but they would have to be replicas of the old Prior & Church trains.
You're right. They would probably be lightweight replicas. Thanks for the comment.
@@vidwilzvids9587: I don't think that the weight was the problem with the old trains. It was probably certain safety and maintenance issues. The "Cyclone" at Coney Island still uses the original wooden trains and they're better than the fiberglass trains.
The ride runs 6 seconds faster with the P & C rolling stock, def need to change back to them ASAP.
Amazing. Must be that the old cars are much heavier.
vidwilzvids Absolutely! Much, much heavier than their Morgan fiberglass counterparts. Each of the seven car on the P&C trains probably weigh in the ballpark of 1500 - 2000 pounds. Thats potentially 7 tons of weight including passengers, Morgan is at least half of that. They don’t make them like they used too!
Rye Playland also probably sees less stress/maintenance on the track structure. I wonder if there had to be any changes to the track profile or the underneath guide rails to accommodate the lighter trains that also had no flanges on the load-bearing wheels..
vidwilzvids There was no track work done to accommodate the new trains, the trains were built for the ride. Same goes for the installation of the same trains on the Giant Dippers in California, much less costly to make a train that already fits the track gauge and design, than to retrack an entire ride and still have to buy the trains. Without a doubt Playland sees a maintenance cut, but the public loses out by having a less than stellar ride. While I don’t believe the original trains will make the ride better by leaps and bounds, anything would help that boring layout. As a roller coaster enthusiast and historian, I would love to see them run again as they truly are one of a kind and best said to be the Rolls Royce of roller coaster trains.
Whats really amazing about how much these old trains weighed is that none of these rides (the GDs or Dragon) have any meaningful batter bracing, they mainly just use guy wires (Santa Cruz has a brace in it's first curve that was added after the fact). I believe P&C's track designed distributed the weight in a way that it was always running forward ahead of the train and thus spread out over more bents, sort of like a spring. Super ahead of it's time and something that has really never been attempted again as their track is expensive and complicated to construct.
The removal of Dragon's Prior & Church trains is one of the worst things to ever happen to any roller coaster I've ridden that's still operating. Equal to that is Giant Dipper not restoring & using their P&C trains and curses to Dana Morgan for strong-arming that decision. But Dragon...wow! The P&C trains rode like tanks and were exceptionally comfy and the most drop-dead beautiful things I've ever laid eyes on on a roller coaster. I had the privilege and honor of maybe 50-75 rides on these classics. I have not, and will not ride Dragon with Morgans.
I never fault traditional amusement parks for making the best of economic realities. Thanks for the comment.
I agree. It's really hard being a hobbyist sometimes because I must realize that it all comes down, almost always, to the dollar. There are exceptions...Knoebels, Kennywood, Mission Beach, Coney Island Cyclone, and a few others truly do put great weight on historical significance of their park, rides, and coasters.
Im right there with you. There is also the problem of being up to safety codes. When the ride continually operates with the original equipment, that stuff is grandfathered in. With the Mission Beach Giant Dipper, the ride closed for a while. In order to reopen it needed to meet current standards and I don’t think the P&C trains make the cut. Plus maintenance is a high priority as well, they would rather save money then have a ride that is better.
Good point about safety codes which are probably becoming more stringent from day to day. Designing and building two custom articulated trains from P&C blueprints would almost certainly be way yonder beyond the Dragon Coaster's share of the budget. Also, I believe that Rye Playland is on the national registry of historical places. That means that the feds have a say in how Rye maintains and upgrades the equipment that the public is exposed to. The third voting block is the insurance companies.They will go with Morgan's track record. A lot of bases to touch before you make a decision about how to upgrade, overhaul, rebuild, and/or re-design a ninety year-old thrill ride.
Kurt Brigandi - Mission Beach/San Diego was planning on restoring one of the P&C trains to run on Giant Dipper, but Dana Morgan, who was part of the San Diego Coaster Company (a small team of well-healed amusement park/roller coaster professionals, designers, engineers, managers & owners) insisted they use his trains on the ride. If they didn't, Dana Morgan was going to step out of the effort to restore Giant Dipper. Prior & Church trains run safely on the PNE Coaster, and the Vancouver Coaster to this day. Unfortunately, we must endure Morgans on both Giant Dippers. I long for the day when Morgan trains are extinct, and on the Giant Dippers and Dragon, replaced with GCIs or Timberliners.
Great video!!! Got any clips of the old Flying Witch or Zombie Castle?
Thanks! I have some more Rye Playland clips from the same day that I may post when I get my capture/edit rig back together.
@@vidwilzvids9587 Please post them! That would be so cooL!
@@vidwilzvids9587 I would LOVE to see those if you still use this TH-cam account and see this!
@@vidwilzvids9587 Id love to see that if you still use this account
@@vidwilzvids9587 Did you ever upload that footage? I would love to see that!