Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Scott And Carol Present - Iron Wolf De-construction Photos




For now the Iron Wolf's station is still standing, although the entrance and queue area are "hidden" behind some cornstalks.


The queue area's cover is gone, but the structure is there still.


The construction crew has yet to start taking down the lift hill.



Here is a look at Iron Wolf from the mid-way in from of the station taken several years ago.


Here is a photo from near the same spot, taken on October 15th 2011. As you can see a lot of track has already been removed.



This section of track, leading out of the station toward the lift hill, shows just how carefully the sections are being removed. Most of the bolts have been removed to expedite the track removal.



Here is a look at one of the rides two 7 car trains plunging down the first drop several years ago.



Here is nearly the same shot taken October 15th, does look like much has changed here...yet.



These two supports show the ball part of B&M's original ball and socket joints that were on the top of the supports and the bottom of track pieces to facilitate the installation process. The fabrication tolerances have since been tightened to within one millimeter for all measurements, thus eliminating the need for the joints and the need for the customer to continue lubricating those joints for the life of the roller coaster.


The track may be on it's way to Maryland, but the footers have yet to be removed.



The entrance and exiting sections are all that remains of Iron Wolf's loop.


These sections of track helped make up the fan turn after the loop.


Iron Wolf opened at Six Flags Great America on April 28th 1990, it was the first coaster designed by Walter Bolliger & Claude Mabillard and when it opened Iron Wolf was the tallest and fastest stand-up roller coaster in the world. On September 5th 2011 Iron Wolf ended it's run at the park. The ride is currently being carefully dismantled and moved to Six Flags America in Largo Maryland, where it will open as Apocalypse: Last Stand in 2012.


1 comments:

Aerotrooper said...

Apocalypse is a great new name for this ride. It's like a stand up batman. All hell breaks loose on this one for a moment. I never found it violent or abusive. And defensive riding seems impossible so I've always thought of it as a good ride. This one was especially good in the dark I thought. I hope they can find a good place for it at Six Flags America. Somewhere back towards their flying coaster?