Since 2009, the National Roller Coaster Museum & Archives (NRCMA) in Plainview, Texas, has been working tirelessly to help preserve the unique history of US amusement parks.
From collecting old roller coaster blueprints, ride vehicles and even entire track sections, our mission has been to tell the story of this truly American art form that has swept the globe.
One of the largest projects the museum has undertaken has been to preserve and rebuild a corkscrew inversion from a retired coaster.
First opened in 1975 as the Chicago Loop in Bolingbrook, Illinois, it was the second “corkscrew” roller coaster track ever built by the Arrow Development Company of Mountain View, CA. The ride then made several stops across the country before finally being retired as the Canobie Corkscrew from Canobie Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire.
When the track reached the end of its service life, the park coordinated with the NRCMA to carefully dismantle and ship the second of two “corkscrews” here to West Texas for permanent display. It should be noted that these rides were never designed or engineered to move — that they managed to do so is a testament to their robust design.
Our board chairman, Jeff Novotny, had significant experience with Simpson Strong-Tie in his former position as an amusement ride manufacturer. He contacted his former Simpson rep to see whether it would be possible to have the necessary hardware donated to help bring the Canobie Corkscrew back to life as the centerpiece of the museum. We provided 72 of 1-1/4″ X 24″ Pre-Assembled Anchor Bolts for this project.
Now these footers stand ready to hold up a piece of amusement park history, thanks to the generosity of Simpson Strong-Tie and their commitment to preservation.
