[Jay]

Update list moved here.

Until we know what, if anything, is being put in its place this will be the thread for everyone to share pictures of the demolition. I only wish I lived closer so I could go on a semi-regular basis, but if anyone has a season pass, and a decent camera feel free to take all the pics you want (within park rules of course!) and post them here.


The new ride will be grill themed.


This used to be path.


This used to be the ending.


The drop was here, but now its a pile of rubble.


Poor Dora has been silenced while they are tearing crap down. Dave will be sad.


I don't even know where the train went.


Did a tornado hit this?


A peek over the fence..


This *used* to be where the lift for the Log Flume was.


Good to see nothing has been spared.

I apologize for the quality of the next few pics, I know you are reading this Carowinds, get some Windex for the Skytower windows...


I have a feeling this might start looking pretty different soon.


Foreground..


I imagine Dora's train is in there somewhere.


All that remains of the Log Flume are the concrete pieces like some footers.


This reminds me of in 2003 when Smurf Island was being deconstructed in a similar manner.


Wait.. what the heck? Why is there a large gap in the parking lot?


It's a fence! Surely this isn't at all related to the Log Flume?


It goes all the way to the South Gate too...

...to be continued..

BTW all my pics from Saturday, as well as Hi-Res versions of the ones above, may be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157616362016078/.

[bgwfreak]

Thanks Jay for the pics!

[alecscrews]

If you look at a high res picture of this you can see that the sign on the building says "Powder Key Flume Filtration". Wow, I guess they were lazy to change the sign after so long...

[army of 1]

Just got back from the park... Didnt realize there was that much room there......Whatever it is.. it's gonna be BIG... I hope..

..and the saturator is still sitting there.... *back on topic now*

[MaximAgency]

I guess they never changed that sign since it was not it public view.

[PreferParamount]

I finally got over to the park today. The Cobra was closed for the whole day so i still never gat a chance to try that, and both of the vortex trains were parked off the track. The whole side of the park by the Nick area has a complaetly different feel or look to it. Instead of the flume being behind roket pawer, the is a large pile of trees,dirt and ride boards sitting there. the dora train was torn up also, even though they still have it listed on the map, there was someone guarding the station all day so i dont think its comming back. And when you ride the Carolina Cyclone you can see the train cars sitting outside the warehouses. The FSS track can be seen from the sky tower over by the season pass parking lot. There is a section of the parking lot fenced off by the dora train location so signs are looking up for a big coaster in 2010.
I rode the blue side of thunderoad (twice in a row actually, no line) and it was a lot smother than the gray I thought, the three returning bunny hills that they redid were exreamly smoth, felt like a brand new coaster, i only wish they had done the whole ride.
Afturburn was running both trains and wasn't getting stuck anywhere, lol, and lines were generaly pretty short, I acctually like the coloers of the nighthawk, and the cobra, because they are visable from anywhere in the park it really makes the park more lively in my opinoon. So besides the Cobra being closed, the park was really good this year.

[Jay]

Ehh.. obviously I don't know anything but I would guess that Dora is coming back, though later rather than sooner. Wouldn't make more sense just to put a big fence in front of it or tear down the station if it were really getting removed instead of PAYING EMPLOYEES to stand there and do nothing all day. When I was over there looking I asked if it would be closed all year and the guy said "No, I don't think so." Also its still on the map, so who knows.

Also FSS is near the bus parking, I went and did some snooping yesterday and other than the one fence there isn't much guarding it. It looks very well organized and ready to move to a new destination perhaps.


^^^^(alecscrews)
Why spend money on things people never see? Although I could point out a few examples of things people DO see that could to be changed ..

[alecscrews]

"JamminJ"^^^^(alecscrews)
Why spend money on things people never see? Although I could point out a few examples of things people DO see that could to be changed ..

lol, good point.

[RollerBee]

Also, it appears they are making an effort to keep area around the tracks bulldozer free. Orange netting and black tarp is surrounding parts of the area.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/34 ... 362016078/

[montumax]

Thanks for the photos! They're great.

Keep seeing so many things that could go there in that spot. Being Myself, I have a vivid imagination...

I just wonder if they'll keep the trees (or at least most of them). I'd hate to lose some of them.

I pointed those old Borg signs out to Clint on last Friday. They could just rip them down.

[aaronf1991]

I've been reading threads about this all over the internet, and "Hyper under the bridge" keeps popping up, and I keep wondering, which bridge? Parking toll bridge or bridge with the picture patrol?

[Chris]

I've been reading threads about this all over the internet, and "Hyper under the bridge" keeps popping up, and I keep wondering, which bridge? Parking toll bridge or bridge with the picture patrol?

It refers to the bridge that the train went under back when Carowinds had a train (the bridge with the "picture patrol").

[Davidtmp]

I've been reading threads about this all over the internet, and "Hyper under the bridge" keeps popping up, and I keep wondering, which bridge? Parking toll bridge or bridge with the picture patrol?

It refers to the bridge that the train went under back when Carowinds had a train (the bridge with the "picture patrol").

The bridge at the front gate that has a service road actually used to have a train track there? I didn't know that! So that is why it is an arched bridge. That train must have been before my time, don't remember that big of a train.

[RollerBee]

Yes, Carowinds had two railroads in 1973. Carowinds & Carolina Railroad that surrounded most of the park. And Shortline Railroad(Dora). C&CRR was a 36" gauge and Dora is a 24" gauge train.

Carowinds #1 “Melodia” (Now Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, NC) [actualy south of Charlotte in Ft. Mill, SC --ed.] was the only 36″ gage Crown built on an historical chassis and the only one which was not a 4-4-0. It started life as an 1897 Porter 0-6-2T (c/n 1790) with 9″x14″ cylinders at the Barker and Lepine Plantation in Lafource Crossing, Louisiana, then moved to the Laurel Valley Plantation in Tribodaux, LA at an unknown date where it was named Melodia. At another unknown date, it became a part of the Arthur LaSalle collection. In 1960, it was sold to Hubert Mitchell Industries and was stored in Hartselle, Alabama. It was then sold to James Freeland who owned Daniel Boone Village near Hillsborough, NC where it was run at the owner’s whim. Freeland subsequently advertised the engine in Hemmings Motor News and sold it directly to Carowinds. Sometime between Hartselle and Carowinds, it was rebuilt by Crown into an oil burning 2-6-2 with tender. In the process, it received a Crown boiler (Dave Barnhardt tells me that he thinks the boiler was already on the floor at Crown before the project was initiated so maybe it was pushed ahead of another project), Crown tender, arched roof cab, cowcatcher, headlight, steam dome, and a tall, skinny diamond stack. It retained the hemispherical Porter sand dome, the inclined Porter cylinders (with the Porter name cast into the steamchest), the Porter (Route 66 shaped) builder’s plate, and the Porter smokebox door, also with the Porter name cast in. This rebuild supposedly happened in 1963, but the boiler appears to be more the size of the post-1970 Crowns. At Carowinds, #1 carried the name “Melodia” on the left side of the cab and the letters EPH on the right side of the cab for E. Pat Hunt, the developer who built the park. Melodia is reported to have run at Carowinds on June 13, 1972 for a publicity day, even though the park did not open to the public until March 1973. The ride circled the park which was divided in two by the North Carolina / South Carolina border (I wonder which state inspected the trains?). The station was at the front of the park, but unlike Disney where the station is over the main street, at Carowinds it was a depressed platform under the park entrance. The railroad was partially dismantled after the 1977 or 1978 season (one account says 1975) to make room for a new theme area (I’m told they didn’t want grade crossings), so the equipment stayed at Carowinds for a few years unused. Melodia was sold in June 1980 to the George Roose collection in Cleveland, Ohio (George was part owner of Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH and he built the 36″ gage Cedar Point and Lake Erie RR in 1963 out of his pocket when the park’s Board of Directors wouldn’t build it !!). One account had it going to western New York, possibly to a park near Springsville, but I have no evidence of it being used or of a park existing there. There was also a rumor that it went to Rome, NY, but that has been proven false. In 1982, it did arrive (and possibly run) at Wild World (now Six Flags America) in Largo, Maryland but returned to Sandusky, Ohio by 1984 where it stayed until at least October 1985 (there is no evidence that it was ever on Cedar Point property, so it must have been stored at Roose’s home). George Roose died in 1992 or 1993. One individual told me that after a couple of years it then passed through Shop Services in Iowa on its way to a developer in California. That’s where the trail stops. Does anyone know anything more about this lost locomotive? Carowinds is said to have built four of Melodia’s coaches themselves from D&RGW steel chassis (which have more of a “trolley car” roof than the Crown coaches), and one is now at the LaPorte County Steam Historical Society railroad in Hesston, Indiana. John Harbeck tells me that several were available in the Roose collection at the time. I do not know the whereabouts of the others today.

Source: http://tarheeltrains.wordpress.com/2009 ... orough-nc/

Actually there is atleast two section of rails from C&CRR left in the park. I used to cross over them going to work when I worked at Carowinds. Also, the train storage shed and Plantation Station is still intact.

[Davidtmp]

Oh wow, thanks for that history there. The things you just never know. That engine really made it's rounds! It would be nice to know where it is at, either junked or in a museum somewhere.
LOL, "It was then sold to James Freeland who owned Daniel Boone Village near Hillsborough, NC where it was run at the owner’s whim" Must be nice to say, "Honey, I think I'm gonna go play with my train!"