Bobby Lima

We’ve heard that there have been truckloads of debris being moved into the back of the parking lot from somewhere in the front of the property. We assume this is just the effect of preparing the site for construction (first phase), removing old pavement and digging foundations, and the like.

Hopefully hte developers have had the foresight to consider preserving some of the older original growth that still exists (between the old kiddie land and the comet). There are several really large pines and maples back there, and are in excess of 200+ feet high and in very good health. Some of the older pictures show some of them and can be seen in the older Giant Coaster films (looks like that was pretty high for an old side friction coaster, it was below the treeline, but barely).

The word from the field is that the Comet is still standing and not too much has changed in the core of the park. We are still trying to get updated from the developers and our emails have been largely ignored. Supposedly l’m on their ‘mailing list’ and will get updates, alas silence and no new news.

We have also been trying to get a hold of the parks historian in the hope that we could get a hold of some historic pictures and film footage showing the park and its history. Some of the footage that is in the “Lincoln Park Remembered” video give us teases of what is suspected to be a much more detailed look at both the Giant Coaster and the Comet in action. We will keep trying it’s just to tempting to pass on these jewels from the past.

We have also been trying to get word back from Little-A-Merrik-A on the fate of the Comets infamous NAD cars, their state and what plans they have for them. Understandably word back has been slow coming as they are in full swing for their season, and are very busy. I missed the initial window to converse with them (initially just before they were opening for the season) so I’ll keep trying.

In the mean time we’ve been offered a couple of photo collections from a couple contributors (Thanks Ray and Mike ) that we’ll be weaving into the galleries and stories. A couple have already worked their way into our ‘anatomy’ section ….

Well thats about all we know now, and hope to keep pressing on in our quest for details, history artifacts, film and pictures …..

As always contributuins are welcome… keep checking in

-Pete-Team LPComet

There was a recent article in “South Coast Today” about the impending doom of the remainder of the park, as well as progress on the redevelopment ( see http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/PUB02/806250419/-1/TOWN1502 )

So now it looks like September will usher in the first phase of building, and who knows what will happen with all the rest then. Perhaps we get another season (after the leaves have fallen) to continue documenting things, perhaps it will all just be leveled. Who knows, but I’m hoping that it is all hidden enough to stick around for one more season, and that the main construction is far enough away to let it be.

In the mean time we continue to paw through our notes, and keep updating things. Jarad has picked up on the station components of the Anatomy section, and so far it looks pretty good. I’ve been busy crunching numbers to make sense of the coasters dynamics, and will undoubtedly try weaving this information into the site where it all makes sense

This week I opened yet another major page,The Comet, Anatomy of a Coaster. This page and others in the works explore the intimate details of what made up the Comet, with lots of pictures and explanatory description. As we all know nothing is ever really finished, and this section is not exception, yet is fairly complete. We will be doing some additional anatomy pages detailing the mechanics (brakes, station, track wwitching and other things) in the near future.

I changed the wrecking ball countdown timer and pushed it out another month, as there appears to be little in terms of actual construction happening on the site. We’ve attempted to contact the developers for a more concrete (no pun intended) date on construction start, and the Open House they are planning. So far no word, but as you guessed, it will be announced here as soon as we know.

The picture collection continues to grow, and we have litterally hundreds of ‘current’ photos to go through. The important highlights have already been added to the galleries, and sorted in with their existing counterparts where appropriate. Most are in the Overgrown and forgotten gallery, and some are in the Chronological Diary, The Comets Last Days section (most are in the overgrown section though)

-Pete

In case you were not aware the roof to the Comets station collapsed onto the platform, I wrote up an article, and posted a picture of its current condition (in the news section)

So what’s new:
A section called ‘About the Designer” which is an attempt to collect information about Vernon Keenan and fill in some of the blanks about this amazing coaster designer.

Another section with some pictures of the comet in it’s glory. This section is not finished, and there are several more pictures to come. But we have made special arrangements with the photographer, to use these amazing pictures (so don’t mind the shameless plugs for you to get your own). There is only one up at the moment, personally I call it “First Drop”.

Whats to come:
Just about any section on the site can be updated, as information becomes available. I believe the new Vernon Keenan article could stand a little more info, but that is all I was currently able to find, so stay tuned. There will be more photos from coasterpix, in the hayday sections. Finally I’m currently working on a ‘Technical Details” section for the comet, where I will be exploring all the physical aspects of how the coaster was constructed.

Thats it for the moment, so stay tuned, keep visiting, and explore what we’ve put together