Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters

Philadelphia Toboggan Company, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	1904
Headquarters	Hatfield, Pennsylvania, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Tom Rebbie (President/CEO)
Products	Amusement rides, roller coasters
Owner	Tom Rebbie
Website	Official website

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans (roller coaster cars) and later, roller coaster trains.

History

Philadelphia Toboggan Company built and designed roller coasters from 1904 to 1979. Notable designers included Joe McKee, John A. Miller, Herbert Schmeck, Frank Hoover, and John C. Allen. When Allen retired in 1976, the company stopped designing roller coasters but continued to work on coaster projects until 1979 when it exited the coaster-construction industry for good.^[1]

The company manufactured carousels in addition to roller coasters, which were known for their elaborate carvings and decorations. Lead carvers included Daniel Carl Muller, Leo Zoller, John Zalar, and most importantly, Frank Caretta. Fine examples of the company's carousels (manufactured 1904–1934) exist throughout the United States. A few of the rides the Philadelphia Toboggan Company built include the Rollo Coaster at Idlewild Park in 1938, and the carousel for the same amusement park in 1931. The company also manufactured Skee Ball machines for many years. In 1926, PTC was granted a trademark on a new name, Philtobco.

Flying Turns

Developed by J. Norman Bartlett and John Miller, the Flying Turns coasters came to the attention of PTC. Recognizing the ride's potential, PTC signed a licensing agreement with Bartlett and Miller to market the ride in North America — with the exception of the state of California.^[2] With the arrival of the Great Depression, PTC built only one in 1931, at Rocky Point Amusement Park. The coaster was engineered by Herbert Schmeck, but experienced problems. The ride opened late in the summer and Schmeck was required to stay on site for some time before he was able to get the ride operating consistently. The ride was damaged beyond repair by a storm on September 21, 1938.^[2]

Schmeck actually engineered a second Flying Turns for Hershey Park in August 1941. Due to the entry of the United States in World War II, and the resulting rationing of building materials, the roller coaster was never built. It would have been located in the park next to what is now the Wave Swinger, and part of where the Comet lift hill is located.^[3] Though Bartlett and Miller went on to build several more Flying Turns-type coasters, PTC never proposed another.^[2]

PTC Today

On November 27, 1991, Tom Rebbie and Bill Dauphinee purchased the Philadelphia Toboggan Company from its former owner, the late Sam High (1934–2011). The 87-year-old company changed its name to Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters and Rebbie was appointed president. Rebbie bought out Dauphinee in 2007 to become the sole owner and the name was slightly modified to Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc. (PTCI). The company continues to manufacture roller coaster trains, queue gates and fin brakes.^[4]

Wooden roller coasters

This table only includes PTC coasters that are still operating.

Most wooden roller coasters operate with PTC trains

Opened	Name	Park
1923	Thunderhawk	Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
1927	Wildcat	Lake Compounce
1927	Racer	Kennywood
1934	Blue Flyer	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
1936	Yankee Cannonball^1	Canobie Lake Park
1938	Rollo Coaster	Idlewild Park
1941	Thunderbolt	Six Flags New England
1946	Comet	Hersheypark
1951	Comet	Waldameer Park
1956	Sea Dragon	Zoombezi Bay
1959	Wedgewood Tornado	Wedgewood Village in Oklahoma City
1964	Blue Streak	Cedar Point
1966	Swamp Fox	Grand Strand Amusement Park, renovated in 1992 when park reopened as Family Kingdom Amusement Park
1967	Cannon Ball	Lake Winnepesaukah
1972	Woodstock Express	Kings Island
1972	The Racer	Kings Island
1973	Great American Scream Machine	Six Flags Over Georgia
1974	Woodstock Express	Kings Dominion
1975	Woodstock Express	Carowinds
1975	Rebel Yell	Kings Dominion
1976	Screamin' Eagle^2	Six Flags St. Louis
1985	Phoenix^4	Knoebels
1987	Skyliner^5	Lakemont Park
1994	Comet^6	The Great Escape
2006	Meteor^7	Little Amerricka
2010	Little Dipper^8	Six Flags Great America
2011	Black Diamond^9	Knoebels Amusement Resort

¹Originally built in 1930 as Roller Coaster for Lakewood Park in Waterbury, Connecticut.
²This was the last coaster designed and built by PTC. John Allen retired when this coaster was completed.
³This coaster was designed by Curtis D. Summers based on PTC plans. Some sources indicate it was built in-house by Taft, others attribute PTC.
⁴Originally built in 1947 at Playland Park (San Antonio, TX) as The Rocket. The park closed in 1980 and the coaster was relocated to Knoebels in 1985.
⁵Originally built in 1960 at Roseland Park, Canandaigua, New York. The park closed in 1985 and the coaster was relocated to Lakemont Park in 1987.
⁶Originally built in 1949 at Crystal Beach Park (Crystal Beach, Ontario Canada). The park closed in 1989 and the coaster was dismantled in 1990. It sat in storage until 1993. It was then relocated to The Great Escape in 1994.
⁷Originally built in 1953 as Little Dipper for Kiddytown in Norridge, Illinois then moved in 1966 to Hillcrest Park where it operated until 2003.
⁸Originally built in 1950 as Little Dipper for Melrose Kiddieland.
⁹Originally built in 1960 as Golden Nugget for Hunt's Pier, Wildwood, New Jersey. It is the only steel coaster ever manufactured by PTC.

Carousels

This table only includes PTC carousels that are still operating or in restoration. Most PTC carousels were numbered, so they are easily identified. Most have been moved from their original opening locations.

PTC #	Owner	City, State	Year Built	Notes	Ref(s)
6	Kit Carson Co. Fairgrounds	Burlington, Colorado	1905
15	Palisades Center Mall	West Nyack, New York	1907	Removed 2009	[5]
17	Six Flags Over Georgia	Atlanta, Georgia	1908
18	Carousel Center	Syracuse, New York	1909
19	Euclid Beach (in restoration)	Cleveland, Ohio	1910
21	Six Flags Magic Mountain	Valencia, California	1912
30	Luna Park, Melbourne	St Kilda, Melbourne Australia	1913
33	Como Park	St. Paul, Minnesota	1914
35	Six Flags St. Louis	Eureka, Missouri	1915
39	Lake Winnepesaukah	Rossville, Georgia	1916
43	Puyallup Fair	Puyallup, Washington	1917
44	Kings Dominion	Doswell, Virginia	1917
45	Woodland Park Zoo	Seattle, Washington	1918
46	Magic Kingdom	Bay Lake, Florida	1917	Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
47	Hersheypark	Hershey, Pennsylvania	1919		[6][7]
49	Louisville Zoo	Louisville, Kentucky	1919		[8]
50	City of Hampton	Hampton, Virginia	1920
51	Elitch Gardens	Denver, Colorado	1925–1928
53	Charles N. Walker	Griffin, Georgia	1920		[9]
54	Battleship Cove	Fall River, Massachusetts	1920
59	Peddler's Village	Lahaska, Pennsylvania	1922
61	David and Jane Walentas	Brooklyn, New York	1922
62	Santa Monica Pier	Santa Monica, California	1922
67	Carowinds	Charlotte, North Carolina	1923
72	Kiddieland	Melrose Park, Illinois	1925
75	Gillians Wonderland Pier and Island Waterpark	Ocean City, New Jersey	1926
76	Valleyfair	Shakopee, Minnesota	1925
79	Kings Island	Mason, Ohio	1926	Formerly Coney Island, Cincinnati (1926–1971)
80	Holyoke Heritage State Park	Holyoke, Massachusetts	1927–1929
83	Idlewild Park	Ligonier, Pennsylvania	1931
84	Canada's Wonderland	Vaughan, Ontario, Canada	1928
85	Carousel Station (formerly part of Paragon Park)	Hull, Massachusetts	1928
87	Family Kingdom	Myrtle Beach, South Carolina	1929	Mechanism only - Horses Replaced - formerly Asbury Park, NJ, Casino

Funhouse items

Beginning before World War II, PTC was involved with the booming dark ride and funhouse business. It spawned the company Funni-Frite Industries of Lancaster, Columbus, and (later) Pickerington, Ohio, which ceased manufacturing operations in 2000.^[10]

• Laffing Sal - automated funhouse character/amusement device

See also

• Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel Number 15, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.^[11]
• Skee-Ball Inc. PTC owned Skee-Ball from 1945 until 1971 when it was spun off as a separate company.

References

1. Rutherford, Scott. The American Roller Coaster, MBI Publishing, 2000, p. 12
2. Rutherford, Scott (2004). "PTC built one Flying Turns at Rocky Point; Hershey's ride was designed, but never built". Amusement Today 8 (8.2). p. 23.
3. Jenkins Jr., Torrence (2006). Herbert P. Schmeck: The Forgotten Legacy. Knepper Press. pp. 91–93.
4. Seifert, Jeffrey. "This Month in History," Amusement Today, Volume 15, Issue 8.2, p. 3
5. "Palisades Center Replaces Historic Carousel". New York Post. August 27, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
6. "Hershey Park Opens Sunday". Harrisburg Telegraph. May 14, 1945. p. 14. Following the practice of having something new every year, the Park has disposed of the carrousel, which has brought untold pleasure to thousands of children, and purchased one of the finest merry-go-rounds that has ever been built in this country.
7. "Hershey Park Opens Sunday". Gettysburg Times. May 15, 1945. p. 8.
8. Bussabarger, Kara (July 25, 2008). "PTC 49 Carousel at Louisville Zoo". Retrieved September 20, 2015.
9. (PDF) http://esq.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/15/06/54d453969ae59_-_Carousel_News_and_Trader_BW_Borrelli_JUNE_2010.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
10. http://www.ochh.net/funni-catalogs.html
11. Staff (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.

External links

• Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc.
• European Coaster Club PTC Database
• PTC Carousel 30 in Australia Homepages
• PTC Carousel 87 at Family Kingdom Amusement Park, Myrtle Beach SC