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Trams and Shuttles


29yrswithaGApass

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17 hours ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

I remember people constantly jumping on and off the side facing tram cars.  I always thought that was a strange seating configuration especially the partial seats over the wheels.  

Fantastic spotlight and one that I have been eagerly awaiting.

 

Agree that the side facing trams were strange, but also ridiculously inefficient in terms of the rider capacity. In reality, this configuration allowed for, at most, 24 "normal" sized passengers per car.  This side facing configuration and these tug-type of trams were common to each of the original three Six Flags parks.  While I'm not 100% certain of this, I believe they did not appear at Great Adventure until the 1978 season.

 

Despite being a big GA fan and employee for three seasons, as well as attending pretty regularly through at least the early 2000's, the Firestone trams were the last trams I ever recall seeing at the park.  The variety of trams the park has utilized over the years, that are included in this spotlight, was a real shocker for me.  As you have mentioned before, the single axle cars provided quite a seesaw ride themselves to the park entrance with the connection between cars often bottoming out in various uneven sections of the parking lot.

 

Personally, the lack of trams at Great Adventure were a big reason my mother and father stopped going to the park.  The walk from the parking lot to the main entrance became too much for my mother.  In the park, there were plenty of places to sit and catch a breadth for her as she aged, but the walk from the farthest reaches of the parking lot to the main entrance was too much.

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Here is an aerial view of the parking lot from 1974.  Note that on this day there were at least five active tram cars in the lot with several tows and cars to spare (bottom of the photo).  I have confirmed with the manager of the parking lot area during the opening season that the low riding trams that were purchased from the NY World Fair were very problematic.  The lot was not asphalt during the first two season but instead a gravel-like mix.  Uneven spots caused the trams to bottom out which created its own set of problems.

 

Note the three trams in the upper right are at the original tram station located near the original entrance gate by the four tents.  

 

Tram1974 copy.jpg

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Loving these picts from the parks earliest days.  They really reinforce the park being an escape from the outside world.  Interesting that, at least in this picture, there are very few buses in the lost.  The only buses I see, and I assume they are not parked because of their tandem order, are about midway vertically, on the left.  I'm thinking they're in line to either exit the park or heading toward the return road.

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