Toboggan at Bendix Woods County Park

Bendix Woods County Park is owned by the St. Joseph County, IN Parks Department, located just south of New Carlisle, IN. Despite being a relatively small plot of forest, the Park actually holds a couple interesting bits of history, including an abandoned roller coaster. 

Image: World Wide Coasters

First, let's discuss the more obvious landmark here. Owing to the industrial nature of Northern Indiana, one can see trees aligned to form the word "Studebaker", the car company that ceased operations in 1967 that was founded in nearby South Bend. The trees themselves were planted in 1938.

Image: South Bend Tribune

Much less obvious, however, is the existence of the ruins of a roller coaster on the park grounds, which was known as the Toboggan, and build around 1970. It appears to have never operated, and may have been more of an alpine coaster (one that traverses down a hill or a mountain), as opposed to a traditional chain lift ride.

Image: Paul Schramm via RCDB

The Director of County Parks for the area shined some light on the ruins, "Back in 1970 the park director at the time (Billy Hankins) and the park board president (Robert Fischgrund) decided it would be a great idea to install an all-season toboggan run on rails. When it was just about ready to be opened to the public the two of them took a trail run and fell off - taking quite a tumble. They decided it was too dangerous and the toboggan never opened to the public." (Roller Coaster Database)

Image: Hiking Project


A newspaper article from the South Bend Tribune gives a 1977 date of construction, but also notes that it was unsafe, and thus never opened to the public. 

Image: Paul Schramm via RCDB


It's a real shame that this never opened, as to me it looks like an incredibly fun ride through the hills of the park. Maybe it's just the amusement park enthusiast inside me, but any time I find a hill or bluff with a significant drop off, I can't help but picture a tiny roller coaster hill. Further still, I'm a fan of terrain roller coasters like Boulder Dash, and I personally think that coasters that move with hills as opposed to being built on top of parking lots (i.e. Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain) are way more aesthetic and interesting.

Thanks as always for reading!


Location: Bendix Woods Park, New Carlisle, IN 46552, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Abandoned Route 66 in McCook, IL

Image
Route 66, the iconic "Main Street of America," weaves through the heart of the United States, connecting communities and embodying the spirit of adventure. However, not all sections of this historic highway have stood the test of time. While much of the former US 66 is drivable in one way or another, especially in Illinois, there are some parts are not.  One of the first such roadblocks for would-be travelers heading from Chicago to Los Angeles via the Mother Road, now known as Joliet Road, comes just outside of Chicago in McCook, IL, where the former highway is closed between 55th St and East Ave, and has been for over two decades. (Link to the location on our Ghost Towns Map ) Image: Google Maps at 55th and Joliet Rd in McCook, IL The land that the quarry would eventually take over was part of Stinson Airport in the early days of Route 66, dating back to before 1930. ( Abandoned Airports map ). 1938 USGS Aerial Imagery The quarrying on the south side of the road would...
Read more

The Underwater Water Slide: Fly Over at Durinrell TikiBad

Image
Have you ever wished to experience being transferred from one pool of liquid to another via a pipe? Had you visited the Dutch water park known as Durinrell , also known as Tikibad before 2010, you would have had the chance. Half water slide, half war crime, this was a unique water slide that was filled to the brim with water, leaving riders completely submerged throughout the journey. Image:  XtremeRidesNL Known as the Fly Over was an underwater water slide, which is exactly how it sounds, and transported riders from one pool to another using the water as propulsion. Built in 1994, riders dove underwater to access the slide, using gravity to transport them upwards via the Communicating Vessels Principle . Riders would be completely underwater for about 15-20 seconds. This is how I imagine those 15-20 seconds felt like while riding the slide. The slide was built to drain water in five seconds or less in case a rider got stuck in the slide or had a medical emergency, but the threat...
Read more

Railroad Vocabulary: A List of Words and Phrases Used in the Industry - Updated February 2024

Image
As somebody who enjoyed watching trains, but was not an employee of the railroad industry ( at least growing up ), when I would interact with railfans and historians, there was often a lot of technical jargon that applied only to the railroad industry thrown back and forth that made it difficult for a newcomer to understand what they were talking about. For example, what is a dinky? It's actually a passenger train. This non-inclusive language seems to keep the loop closed to members of the community, and to uncouple (no pun intended) that technical jargon and help make it easier for people to communicate with people in the industry, I am creating a list of railroad vocabulary that I'm hoping will make the industry more transparent.  BNSF 2361 . Image: Matt Flores While I ultimately believe that such technical jargon has no place outside of perhaps technical communications between employees, I know quite well that I alone am not going to stop people from communicating in a non-i...
Read more