Trip Report: Camden Park

Huntington, West Virginia - 07/19/1997

"Classic park, classic coasters."

Camden Park is, for me, just a little bit out of the way. It's right on the Ohio river, across from what is almost but not quite the southernmost tip of the state of Ohio.

Getting there was fun this time. Rather than drive straight down US-23, I decided to take the scenic route through the Wayne National Forest, which is actually more direct. But of course, this is not without its problems. I wanted to use OH-233, but there is a roughly 100 foot section of OH-233 closed to traffic. A detour is posted, but it goes well out of my way...and it goes through beanfields instead of forest. Detour? I don't need no steenking detour. I found a convenient county road that seemed to go in the direction I wanted. This is the same tactic I use in Northern Ohio to go around culvert and railroad crossing replacements on my way to Cedar Point. But Southern Ohio is a little different. First of all, there are hills. Second, that nice stretch of county asphalt soon deteriorated into a well-groomed gravel surface. I proceeded fearlessly, under the assumption that the road would eventually come out somewhere; where there were crossroads, I took the roads that generally went in the right direction, and I avoided the ones that had grass growing in the middle. The wood-surface bridges were a little scary (the planks rattled as I drove over them), but do you know what? It worked. I found the route I wanted, and made it to Camden at about 1:00, after a lunch stop.

I was suprised (based on my previous visits) to find the park crowded. I parked in the middle of the parking lot, collected my camera and computer, and headed to the gate, paying my $1 general admission. Then I waited in line for my $12.50 POP pass...a hand stamp and a bit of orange yarn with a pink metal clip. Very stylish, and far more comfortable than those Tyvek paper things the bigger parks use.

Camden Park looks much like it did the last time I visited, but it looked to me like there has been a lot of general cosmetic improvements. For instance several buildings appear to be freshly painted, and the broken neon has been removed from the Big Dipper station facade. The grounds are clean, and I noticed park employees with dustpans sweeping up to make sure things stayed that way. I started working through the rides, and rode most of them. Camden's rides are generally in good shape, some better than others. For instance, Camden has probably the best-running Spider I have ridden...exceptionally smooth-running, with tubs that spin wildly at the slightest provocation. Likewise, the Super Round-Up starts fast and smooth and doesn't strain or wobble. Okay, so the Scrambler is a little rough...and they have only three cars running on the bumper cars. But those cars are Lusse Auto Skooters, with Fiberglas bodies. Sort of the opposite extreme from Cedar Point, where they cram 40 cars onto the 40'x76' arena... But don't miss Camden's gravity-powered Haunted House. What is the verdict: Is this thing a coaster?

I failed to ride the Thunderbolt Express (Arrow shuttle loop) because I simply wasn't up to the stair climb. But I made up for it with rides on the Dippers. Big Dipper has apparently received some trackwork. It has not been retracked or capped, but I suspect that track bolts have been tightened and the gauge has been tweaked, because after the first turnaround, the Big Dipper is really very smooth. It still has problems, though. First of all, the shallow dip between the lift and the first turnaround is very rough as the classic Century Flyer (complete with all the grillework!) literally pogo-sticks its way into the first turnaround. Also, there are two trim brakes on the ride...one after the long drop at the top of the rise into the second turnaround, and another after the turnaround, just before the drop leading to the tunnelled third turnaround. The first trim is set too tight, so that it grabs very heavily on the third car, nearly stopping the train suddenly, and throwing riders violently forward into their lap bars. Apart from that, though, this little NAD coaster lives up to its name, with steep dips that launch riders, particularly riders in the rear axle seats, into glorious airtime. No floaters here, just a swift kick as the train is ripped out from under you. This coaster is a lot of fun.

Camden Park's other wood coaster is the steel-framed "Lil' Dipper" which may well be the last surviving NAD kiddie coaster. Like its larger neighbor, the Lil' Dipper is running a stainless-steel clad art deco NAD train in remarkable shape with most of the grillwork intact. The NAD kiddie train has five single-bench cars, each car about the size of the PTC junior coaster car. No, I am not kidding. When I sit on the seat, if I stretch my legs out all the way, I can barely touch my toes against the front wall of the car. I am close to 6' tall. The cars are trailered, with the wheels under the seat and the hitch ball...which looks like a standard motor vehicle hitch...is attached to a steel plate extending about a foot from the back of the car. If you are paying careful attention and have seen my essays about why Raging Wolf Bobs shuffles so much, then you know I am about to tell you that NAD did it wrong. In the way of proof, I offer the Lil' Dipper's third turnaround...a 180-degree horseshoe taken at "high speed" (well, as high as speeds get with a 10' lift). The train shuffles mightily through the section as the car tries to find a path between the demands of the front and rear coupling points. The action is exactly the same as what Raging Wolf Bobs does. Apart from that major design flaw with the train, Lil' Dipper is a really neat ride. I find it interesting that Big Dipper has muscle-powered Big 'Ol Brake Levers operating its main fin brakes (yes, NAD used fin-type squeeze brakes long before PTC ever thought of it), while the Lil' Dipper has pneumatically operated fin brakes. Which worked out well for Camden...the air compressor on Lil' Dipper also supplies the adjacent flume ride.

Here is a complete list of rides at Camden Park. As usual, any corrections are welcome...
Ride Name Manufacturer Common Name
Big Dipper National Amusement Device Wood Coaster
Dodgem Lusse Auto Skooter
Ferris Wheel Eli Bridge Co. Eagle-16 Wheel
Haunted House Pretzel? Dark Ride
Hot Cat Herschell Caterpillar
Lil' Dipper National Amusement Device Junior wood coaster
Log Flume Log Flume
Magic Rainbow Hrubetz Super Round-Up
Merry-Go-Round Herschell? Merry-Go-Round
Paratrooper Hrubetz Paratrooper
Scrambler Eli Bridge Co. Scrambler
Skyliner Hopkins/Skyfair? Fixed grip aerial tramway
Spider Eyerly Aircraft Co. Spider
Thunderbolt Express Arrow Development Co. Launched Loop
Tilter Sellner Tilt-A-Whirl (cable)
Train Int'l Amusement Device Train
Whip Mangels Whip 8 car
Kiddies:
F-80 Goforth F-80
Kiddie Boats Herschell (Kid boat ride)
Kiddie Dune Buggy ??? (tracked car ride)
Kiddie Hand Cars ??? Hand Cars
Kiddie Pony Cart Mangels Pony Cart
Skyfighers Herschell Sky Fighters
Umbrella Ride Hampton Umbrella Ride
Whip Mangels Kiddie Whip-8

Camden Park is the only place I have ever been where they call their Hampton Umbrella Ride (think: "Erk-erk-erk-erk-erk...") simply "Umbrella Ride".

Camden is a nice little park that doesn't know the meaning of TPM. There are also reports floating around that while they certainly look good, they may be on shaky financial ground, and that every year may be the last for this classic park. But so far, they are holding in there...and regardless of the financial health of the organization, this is one of the fast-disappearing traditional parks that not only needs your support, but deserves your support. If you are in the area and can find a way to do it, do pay a visit to Camden Park. It's worth the visit just to see the Century Flyer train running on the Big Dipper.

Next trip: Conneaut Lake Park
1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures

Back to Dave's page

--Dave Althoff, Jr.