6/25/08 Pictures of "Toboggan" at Bendix Woods Pk

I was reading RCDB and came across this coaster, which had never opened due to being considered dangerous. It can be found in the woods of "Bendix Woods County Park"..

In my view this coaster is in the perfect place, deep in woods, the ride would have been a good one esp at night.

I emailed the park just out of Interest to see if they had any new news on this roller coaster which I know will never get repaired, as it's been SBNO for years.

To my luck they sent me pictures of how it looks in 2008 and how the track has stood the test of time:

Amazing that something like this still exists, just like CLP and its "Big Dipper".

History:

Roller Coaster: Toboggan

Amusement Park: Bendix Woods County Park (New Carlisle, Indiana 46552 USA)

Classification: Roller Coaster

Type: Steel - Sit Down

Status: SBNO since 1970

The story on this roller coaster is a bit of a mystery. So far the only history has been provided by the director of county parks:

"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."

Let me know what you think.

Distance Shot through the trees

Swooping curve

Great location for a ride

The hightlight of the ride, a fast "S" curve

Small Dip

Top of double down

Double Down

It does look remarkably good for being left to rot for 38 years. It was probably one hell of a ride.

I say clean up the down trees and then build a car and ride!

It's a shame that this ride couldn't open. It really looked like it could have been a unique and fun little ride. That s-curve looked sweet.

I had an email from one of the Park's employee's and they said the below:

"A park employee who was here at the time the “Toboggan” was assembled and he indicated that no insurer would take on the project, and that was another part of the reason why the ride was never opened to the public.

The ride was essentially assembled by park employees, but not sure where or how the structure was manufactured for installation. The Parks Director indicated the seat was a bucket that 2 people could be seated in, and the ride was driven by centrifugal force.

It curved around the southwest corner of Carlisle hill, the second highest point in St. Joseph County

The ride surely would have been amazing though, and the scope of it is hard to capture in pictures".

Awesome find! Gotta love the power of the internets these days. An enthusiast from England finds the history of an obscure permanent-SBNO in the US.

COOL.

I live for stuff like this. Thanks for posting those pics.

Awesome. Thanks for posting.

Wow, very cool. The track has really stood the test of time. I love stuff like this. I'd love to go see this someday.

It looks like Galaxi-style track. I wonder if they took stock track sections and just put 'em together or what? Surely someone has ridden this thing. It does look like it'd be a blast to ride.

Eric

This is awesome!

Bendix Woods is about an hour away from where I live in Southwestern Michigan, and minutes from my daughter's home in South Bend,Indiana. And the only way I found out about it is because someone from England did some research! The power of the Internet is incredible!

I think my daughter and I will have to do a little road trip and check out this piece of local history.

It looks like it would have been a fantastic ride!

Hmm.....I have several acres of hilly woodland that would make a great toboggan run......

Thanks for sharing this with us!

Thank you for your posts about this ride. I'm amazed that rides like this hide away for years and no-one discovers them.

I am fascinated by SBNO coasters, they take millions of people on a

"ride of a lifetime" and when the park closes there is no interest to preserve them..

Would this be down to pure cost to move a coaster elsewhere..?

I live in the wrong country, most of the English parks are not that great, which is why I follow most of the USA ones.

I'll like to get recent picture updates on the following SNBO coasters from TPR fans who live near the parks:

Nightmare at Joyland

Big Dipper at Chippewa Lake Park

Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park

Screechin' Eagle at LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park

Comet at Lincoln Park

Golden Nugget Mine at Dinosaur Beach

All the coasters at SFNO

I stumbled across this coaster in January of 2006 when I was going for a short hike in Bendix Woods. I thought I saw some tracks in the woods, and I was shocked at what I found. I took some pictures and sent them in to RCDB. During the summer, you would not be able to see the coaster unless you were off the trail, as the tree cover is relatively dense.

The coaster as it stood in 2006 was in really bad shape. It is not a complete circuit anymore, with at least 1/2 of the track missing, and trees fallen over it in many spots. It is a fairly large coaster, and placed along a hillside. The station area is at the top of the hill. There were a few small dips at the top of the hill, then the s-curve, and then a large swooping drop to the left down the hillside. I would estimate the drop had at least a 40ft change in elevation. All of the track after the drop is missing, until the end-of-the-ride lift hill back up into the station. What you have labeled as a "double down" is actually the lift hill, part of which has collapsed.

If you look closely you can see the track on the current Google Earth photo. I outlined the remaining track here.

The part I outlined was over 600feet long, so the complete coaster would have probably been at least 1000ft long.

^^Joyland is about a 5-10 minute drive from my house. If I have time tomorrow, I might as well go see if I can get some pics. Honestly, I forgot that place even existed.

Yikes! It's Blair Witch Project - The Ride.