Looking for Southport Pleasureland Cyclone track

Hi all,

I've registered with this site because (a) I've just got NoLimits Rollercoaster Sim for my Mac, and (b) I'm hoping to find a particular track for it.

The track I'm looking for is a representation of the Cyclone rollercoaster that was, until recently, the main attraction at Pleasureland, Southport, UK. This was a wooden rollercoaster dating from 1937, and one of the very few decent coasters I've actually ridden on.

When I was a youngster, my parents used to take me on holiday to Southport every year for a few years, and I used to love going on the Cyclone. I was hoping that I might go on it again in the future, too (as it's about 30 years, now, since I last rode on it!), but to my immense dismay, when I looked up Pleasureland on the Web the other day, I found that it was closed in 2006 (though it's in the process of being reopened as New Pleasureland) and - despite local protests - the lovely old Cyclone was pulled down. It's awful to know that something that's fondly remembered from my childhood isn't there any more.

Anyway, there is at least one small consolation: I know that someone has produced a reasonably faithful recreation of it in NoLimits, because there are videos of it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=southport+cyclone+nolimits&search=Search

In fact, it looks as though two people have recreated it in NoLimits independently, though it appears to me as though Pierre Procter's version is the more faithful of the two.

Anyway, I'd really like to get my hands on this track if possible in order to relive my childhood. I've had a quick search on this site, but I don't see anything that's obviously what I'm looking for - though I can't download any tracks to check until after I've posted this message!

If anyone could help, though, and tell me where I can find what I'm looking for, I'd be much obliged. Thanks!

i shall have a serch throught the exchange but i dont know if it was upladed. i do have a video from the park in the summer about 2 weeks befor it closed with a POV video when we had a meetup there. ill have to uplad that for you.

hey, welcome to the site, sorry i cannot help you out, but welcome

Originally posted by Richard Hallas

I've just got NoLimits Rollercoaster Sim for my Mac

Wonderful. Had to mention that, didn't you.

Originally posted by gazag

i shall have a serch throught the exchange but i dont know if it was upladed. i do have a video from the park in the summer about 2 weeks befor it closed with a POV video when we had a meetup there. ill have to uplad that for you.

That would certainly be a lot better than nothing - thanks. Indeed, I'd like a decent film of the ride in any case, so if yours is good I'd love to see it. There are in fact a few POV videos of this ride on YouTube already, but I wasn't very impressed by any of them. Mostly fairly poor quality camera work, and/or an incomplete record of the ride. If you have a decent quality video of the whole thing, it'd be a great memento to have.

Thanks too for the welcome from Austin. This does appear to be an attractive, comprehensive and easy-to-navigate site, so I look forward to exploring it further.

Originally posted by tiepilot35

Originally posted by Richard Hallas

I've just got NoLimits Rollercoaster Sim for my Mac

Wonderful. Had to mention that, didn't you.

Hm... do I detect a certain amount of platform bias here? I assume that the Mac reference is what provoked this less than overwhelmingly friendly response (unless I've simply chosen the wrong simulation).

Since this was my first post, which doubled as an introduction, I thought it reasonable to mention what coaster sim and computer I'm using. Though if it helps you to feel any less offended by my choice of system, I could mention that I also have a copy of RCT3, and am able to run Windows on my Mac. And the Mac is not even my traditional first choice of computer to use (though my first choice is most certainly not Windows). Does that make you feel any better? [;)]

Thanks to the others for their much more helpful responses. I do hope that someone can unearth that Southport Cyclone track for NoLimits. Personally, I think it's a great idea to preserve real-world rollercoasters electronically, especially if (as in this case) they've been dismantled. At least then they're not totally forgotten, but can still be enjoyed to a degree.

Hey, welcome to the site! I would recomend searching the sites exchange. If that doesn't help, go look on other coaster sites for it!
For the video, you can also check themeparkreview.com for it!
Hope you enjoy the staying!

I don't know if it will help you, but if you want to ride the Cyclone in the real life again, there's a replica in Nicco Park, Calcutta, India, built by Blackpool Leisure Amusement Consultancy.

sorry to say but we dont have the track in our exchange

however

theme park review hava a video


and so do i


enjoy both please

Originally posted by gazag

sorry to say but we dont have the track in our exchange

What a shame. I'll try posting a comment on YouTube to ask if the creator is willing to share it.

If not, maybe when I have time to get into it, I'll have a go at recreating it myself in NoLimits. It may be a tall order, as I haven't designed a coaster before, and I'll I have to go on is the public videos and photos that can be found online. But I guess it's worth a try.

however

theme park review hava a video

and so do i

enjoy both please

Excellent! Oddly enough, the embedded YouTube videos didn't work for me here (I had to copy the links and visit YouTube directly to view them), but no matter. Both are well worth watching. Your own video is a nice piece of nostalgia about Pleasureland, whilst the other one is exactly what I was looking for: a good quality video of the whole ride, from start to finish, with no bits edited out.

So, great. Thanks a lot for those. Pleasureland (unsurprisingly) appeared to have changed a lot since I was last there (it's a long time; at least a couple of decades, maybe three), but there were a good few things I remembered. The 'kiddie killer' dodgems looked to be just the same as when I last went on them; I used to love those. And the suspended ride with cylindrical two-seater carriages, right by the entrance and overlooking the car park... I can't remember its name, but I do remember it going up. The years when I went to Pleasureland annually were before and after they constructed it. I'm pretty sure I remember that it broke down and suspended people in mid-air for a few hours, not all that long after it was opened!

I used to love Pleasureland. My only bad memory of it is of the 'motorcycle roundabout' - again, I don't recall its proper name. It was a really high-speed roundabout whose seats were vertical pieces of wood with a crude padded saddle on top, painted to look like motorbikes. Anyone here remember it? I seem to recall that it had a minimum age, below which you weren't supposed to go on it. I don't know what happened now (it's too long ago), but I do remember going on it, and maybe I was too young/small for it at the time. No-one stopped me, though, and boy, did I regret it. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced.

I don't just mean that it was a scary ride; I'm not a total wuss(!), and generally, the more violent the ride, the more I enjoyed it. But in this case I was forced to combat the forces of nature, and it was almost a losing battle. Looking back, it was a shockingly dangerous ride: I'm sure there's no way it would be allowed these days. Basically, there were no restraints at all, and the roundabout went round so fast that the centrifugal force was horrendous. I had to hang on for dear life, and all the time I was being forced up and off the wooden bike. Aside from the metal tube masquerading as handlebars, there was very little to hold on to. Honestly, it took the whole of my strength to keep myself from being flung off at high speed, and I was a piece of quivering jelly by the time the ride was over (it seemed to last forever!) from all the muscle exertion. Really, really dangerous; I could so easily have been flung off and badly injured or even killed.

But it didn't stop me loving Pleasureland, or the rest of Southport. Thirty years ago, it used to be such a nice place: clean, interesting, well kept and with loads of good things to see and do. When I was very small, I used to love going around "Land of the Little People", which was a delightful model village. I've actually got a scan of an ancient photo that I could upload, if anyone wants to see it. That was demolished long, long ago in favour of yet another boring shopping centre. But there were all sorts of other good things in Southport back then. The last time I went, though, was about ten years ago, and it was quite a sad disappointment. I still liked the place (it brought back fond memories), but it had gone all seedy and was generally overgrown and unkempt. Lots of things had either gone or were due to be closed, and it was all rather sad.