The Virginia Reel roller coaster

Roller coaster

The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...

 was an older style of coaster characterized by spinning circular "tubs" that zig-zagged down a flat-bottomed track.

Description

Virginia Reels used a side friction

Side friction roller coaster

A side friction roller coaster is an early roller coaster design that does not have an extra set of wheels under the track to prevent cars from becoming airborne. Before the invention of up-stop wheels, coaster cars were built to run in a trough, with wheels under the car and side plates to help...

-like track resembling a trench. The tubs, which had inward-facing seats built around the perimeter, spun freely on their chassis as they traveled around the track. Instead of big hills or banks, Virginia Reels featured many unbanked turns and switchbacks to spin their tubs as much as possible. Near the end of the ride were a few helices and a relatively steep drop into a tunnel.

History

The Virginia Reel was designed by Henry Elmer Riehl, who named the ride after his daughter, Luna Virginia Riehl. The first Virginia Reel was built in 1908 at Luna Park, Coney Island

Luna Park, Coney Island

Luna Park was an amusement park at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City from 1903 to 1944. A second Luna Park was opened on the former site of the nearby Astroland amusement park...

, where Henry Riehl was superintendent.

The last full-sized Virginia Reel was located at Pleasure Beach Blackpool

Pleasure Beach Blackpool

Pleasure Beach Blackpool is a family owned amusement park and resort situated along the Fylde coast in Blackpool, England. It is the most visited amusement park in the United Kingdom, and one of the top twenty most-visited amusement parks in the world with an estimate of 5.5 million visitors in...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 until it closed in 1982. The modern equivalent is the Spinning Wild Mouse roller coaster.

A similar ride around the same time, the Tickler, consisted of curved rails and posts forming a zig-zag route down an incline surface. Wheeled circular tubs freely rolled and spun down the incline, guided by the rails and bounced about by the posts.

External links

• Pleasure Beach Postcards - Virginia Reel - Many pictures of the Virginia Reel at Pleasure Beach Blackpool
• YouTube: The Pleasure Beach, Blackpool 1920s Footage includes the Virginia Reel
• The End of The Reel - On themagiceye at Joyland: An interview with Ian Beech who operated The Reel at Blackpool Pleasure Beach during its final years of operation.
• The Virginia Reel Gallery - Images documenting the destruction of a classic Blackpool ride on themagiceye at Joyland
• Reeltime Memories - An interview with the daughters of the ride's inventor: Henry Elmer Riehl