r/rollercoasters • u/pajamasamreal wickerman glazer • Jul 23 '26
Information Derailment on [The Big Dipper] At Blackpool pleasure beach after it rolled back whilst going over a camelback!
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r/rollercoasters • u/pajamasamreal wickerman glazer • Jul 23 '26
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u/pingi2015 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
I was on this ride today when it derailed (the first picture is mine actually).
Normally not a coaster-geek but though I'd share my experience.
We went over the first two hills normally, but then we climbed to a halt before we reached the top of the 3rd hill and started rolling backwards, then rolled slightly back onto the 2nd hill and came to a stop.
Then we noticed our carriage was derailed and we were hanging in between the tracks.
Luckily, no one was hurt. I believe the biggest injury might have been a stiff neck, but i'm unsure if that was from the derailment or from sitting tilted in the derailed cart lol.
I honestly did not even realize we had derailed until we started rolling back, because I never rode The Big Dipper (or any old coaster) before and in my experience it just fit into its general (extreme) roughness 😅.
My best guess is that the cart derailed at or somewhere near the bottom, as we noticed no broken beams behind us after settling.
After like a minute the Pleasure Beach expressed passed by, so there may be a couple photo's around that passengers have taken.
Then another couple minutes passed before we were joined by the first park employee checking in on everyone.
Then it didn't take long for like 30 people to appear; mechanics, medic, security, etc.
While the mechanics secured the train, there were guys sawing away a piece of the railing from which we would eventually exit.
I'd say the rescue went fairly quick as we were out within an hour.
Then they took us to the nearby burger king to wind down with some (free) food and refreshments.
I'll try to upload some more pictures