Devil's Shingle
December 20, 2015 10:02 AM Subscribe
"Before leaving this line, mention must be made of a method of riding down the track employed by track maintenance men and long since banned. Wood and metal seats some 3 ft. × 1 ft. were made to fit over the rack rail. These were known as slide-boards, or more popularly, as ‘Devil’s Shingles’. Seated on these, controlling (sometimes) the speed with hand brakes, the men would career down the mountainside. The record time for the trip — as we have said, 3 1/4 miles — was 2 3/4 minutes!"
The Devil’s Shingle: Proof BangShifters Have Been Around for Centuries
Pictures of Devil's Shingles and their riders
More pictures
Related: Pike's Peak Go-Devils
More about the Mount Washington Cog Railway
The Devil’s Shingle: Proof BangShifters Have Been Around for Centuries
Pictures of Devil's Shingles and their riders
More pictures
Related: Pike's Peak Go-Devils
More about the Mount Washington Cog Railway
A perfect metaphor for startups.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:23 AM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_beetle at 10:23 AM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh wow! It's like an alpine slide, only you have to use it and there's no such thing as worker's comp and your family starves if you die.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:26 AM on December 20, 2015 [24 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 10:26 AM on December 20, 2015 [24 favorites]
(I take that back, it looks like they didn't really have to use them. But I suspect it was normalized.)
posted by Countess Elena at 10:28 AM on December 20, 2015
posted by Countess Elena at 10:28 AM on December 20, 2015
Yes, it's like an alpine slide minus even the slightest bit of safety.
“After one man had been killed and another seriously injured, the Devil’s Shingles were banned.”
So after about 3 rides then?
posted by jeather at 10:38 AM on December 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
“After one man had been killed and another seriously injured, the Devil’s Shingles were banned.”
So after about 3 rides then?
posted by jeather at 10:38 AM on December 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
This looks way more fun than the luge or skeleton.
posted by TwoStride at 10:39 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 10:39 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wood and metal seats some 3 ft. × 1 ft. were made to fit over the rack rail.
Read this line as "Wood and meat seats some..." That would be something else altogether.
posted by Fizz at 11:05 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Read this line as "Wood and meat seats some..." That would be something else altogether.
posted by Fizz at 11:05 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wow. What a way to end a long day at work. They did something similar at a Welsh slate quarry (although it doesn't look as crazy fast) as seen in this film clip from 1935.
posted by gamera at 11:14 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by gamera at 11:14 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Plastered to their heads by terror-sweat.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:36 AM on December 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:36 AM on December 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
That's what would have worked in my case, anyway.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:36 AM on December 20, 2015
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:36 AM on December 20, 2015
I've been on the cog railway up Mt. Washintgon. There are some very steep grades. Would not want to slide down.
posted by slkinsey at 12:10 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by slkinsey at 12:10 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
I used to work at the Pikes Peak Summit House & the number one question from tourists was how we got up and down the mountain every day. We'd tell them the truth: We lived up there most of the week at 14,110 feet elevation and slept in bunks in the back. And when they didn't believe us, we'd pick one of half a dozen lies:
1. We hang glide down to base camp
2. We walk 12 miles down Barr Trail every night and catch the train back up
3. We just walk down to treeline and sleep in the old abandoned A-frame
4. There's a cargo elevator that runs through the center of the mountain
5. There's a foot rail on the back of the cog train and the conductor lets us grab on to the outside on the first and last trains of the day
6. We hitchhike and catch rides from motorists on the Pikes Peak Highway
I wish I had known about the shingle!
posted by mochapickle at 12:30 PM on December 20, 2015 [12 favorites]
1. We hang glide down to base camp
2. We walk 12 miles down Barr Trail every night and catch the train back up
3. We just walk down to treeline and sleep in the old abandoned A-frame
4. There's a cargo elevator that runs through the center of the mountain
5. There's a foot rail on the back of the cog train and the conductor lets us grab on to the outside on the first and last trains of the day
6. We hitchhike and catch rides from motorists on the Pikes Peak Highway
I wish I had known about the shingle!
posted by mochapickle at 12:30 PM on December 20, 2015 [12 favorites]
Just rode the cog railway this past summer. It was a trip from mild, sunny, tee shirt and flip-flop weather to howling winds filled with sleet pellets and fog at the top. Most people were not prepared and hardly saw a thing up top as they huddled in the gift shop. It's the shortest trip to the arctic you can take.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:59 PM on December 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:59 PM on December 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
They did something similar at a Welsh slate quarry (although it doesn't look as crazy fast)
My maternal grandfather was a slate quarryman in Llanberis in the early 1900s, and I remember hearing about these things. Very scary, and the inclines are a lot steeper than they look. There were a lot of accidents coming down the inclines this way, but then, there were a lot of accidents, period.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 2:16 PM on December 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
My maternal grandfather was a slate quarryman in Llanberis in the early 1900s, and I remember hearing about these things. Very scary, and the inclines are a lot steeper than they look. There were a lot of accidents coming down the inclines this way, but then, there were a lot of accidents, period.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 2:16 PM on December 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
We should build one of these on a hillside now. I'm not in it so much for the speed thrill, but for swooping through the trees and breathing the fresh air. Seeing the sights.
Once our survey crew rode a work train to some backcountry destination in open crew cars -- basically two back-to-back benches for eight people -- on a sunny June morning. It was pretty darn great. Hanging from a monorail thing would be really cool.
posted by sneebler at 2:28 PM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Once our survey crew rode a work train to some backcountry destination in open crew cars -- basically two back-to-back benches for eight people -- on a sunny June morning. It was pretty darn great. Hanging from a monorail thing would be really cool.
posted by sneebler at 2:28 PM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
My favorite quote from the Pike's Peak link: "But I’m not as crazy now as I was in my 60s."
posted by forforf at 3:31 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by forforf at 3:31 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was about to post something like tss! This reminds me of an alpine slide I did once in New Jersey. I think the park is semi-famous for being super dangerous. People would seriously hurt themselves on it all the time. I don't have any idea how they didn't get sued into oblivion.
posted by Justinian at 4:05 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:05 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Justinian, you're talking about (mis)Adventure Park. It was pretty much sued into oblivion, AFAIR.
There have been a few posts about it here in the blue, including eyewitness accounts from employees and patrons and both at the same time.
posted by loquacious at 5:56 PM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
There have been a few posts about it here in the blue, including eyewitness accounts from employees and patrons and both at the same time.
posted by loquacious at 5:56 PM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I remember the posts but I was too lazy to google it. Yes, that lazy!
posted by Justinian at 6:11 PM on December 20, 2015
posted by Justinian at 6:11 PM on December 20, 2015
Also, I totally want to see gravity/thrill park on a good, steep mountain somewhere not too sensitive or desirable. I know I'm not alone in this. Probably every coaster fan has been up in the mountains and thought at least once that they'd love to ride a rollercoaster down that mountain.
So, yeah there needs to be amega giga teracoaster that loops and spirals and dives it's way down about 5 to 10 thousand vertical feet over 10-20 miles and includes a lot of swooping around rock piles and trees and a couple of really monster dives and even powered or coasting ascents, but it's a one-way ride from top to bottom, and the cars return to the top on their own. To get to the top of the park you take a more pleasant gondola or tram or something.
Or maybe you just use a lot of linear motors to fire riders all the way to the top of the mountain at terrifying speed and then back down again.
Then you have a lot of ziplines, monorails, megaswings, and more sedate options.
I mean, yeah, this is all a terribly bad and expensive idea. A coaster of this size would likely need $100+ price tickets/costs per person per ride, especially outside a traditional theme park model where you expect to leverage concession sales. You'd have to inspect the track basically every run and have a lot of sensors to watch for falling rock and trees/limbs.
And oh yeah, snow. Avalanches. Rockslides. Forest fires.
Wait, how about a coaster where you dive down a mountain chased by avalanches into a raging forest fire? That would be stupendous.
posted by loquacious at 6:20 PM on December 20, 2015
So, yeah there needs to be a
Or maybe you just use a lot of linear motors to fire riders all the way to the top of the mountain at terrifying speed and then back down again.
Then you have a lot of ziplines, monorails, megaswings, and more sedate options.
I mean, yeah, this is all a terribly bad and expensive idea. A coaster of this size would likely need $100+ price tickets/costs per person per ride, especially outside a traditional theme park model where you expect to leverage concession sales. You'd have to inspect the track basically every run and have a lot of sensors to watch for falling rock and trees/limbs.
And oh yeah, snow. Avalanches. Rockslides. Forest fires.
Wait, how about a coaster where you dive down a mountain chased by avalanches into a raging forest fire? That would be stupendous.
posted by loquacious at 6:20 PM on December 20, 2015
how about a coaster where you dive down a mountain chased by avalanches into a raging forest fire
Dave Crockett on Mount St. Helens
posted by ryanrs at 6:38 PM on December 20, 2015
Dave Crockett on Mount St. Helens
posted by ryanrs at 6:38 PM on December 20, 2015
Probably every coaster fan has been up in the mountains and thought at least once that they'd love to ride a rollercoaster down that mountain.
Until the 5K vertical terrain coaster shows up, you can go to Connecticut and ride Boulder Dash, a coaster which climbs up the mountainside and then takes a 115-foot dive off a cliff. The park, Lake Compounce, uses its mountain well: It also has a skyride that takes 30 minutes from bottom to top to bottom (here's roughly 1/5th of the ride).
posted by Spatch at 6:49 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Until the 5K vertical terrain coaster shows up, you can go to Connecticut and ride Boulder Dash, a coaster which climbs up the mountainside and then takes a 115-foot dive off a cliff. The park, Lake Compounce, uses its mountain well: It also has a skyride that takes 30 minutes from bottom to top to bottom (here's roughly 1/5th of the ride).
posted by Spatch at 6:49 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
loquacious: Probably every coaster fan has been up in the mountains and thought at least once that they'd love to ride a rollercoaster down that mountain.
This is pretty much how people get into mountain biking.
posted by traveler_ at 9:46 PM on December 20, 2015
This is pretty much how people get into mountain biking.
posted by traveler_ at 9:46 PM on December 20, 2015
This reminds me of when before the era of skateboards, I bolted some metal skates to a 10x8x1 piece of wood and rode it down the long steep hill on my street. Of course, the other kids wanted to try it, and it all came to an end when Sharon's mother saw us and started screaming, "Sharon Ann, don't be sliding down that hill on your ass!" My mom heard the ruckus, came out and took our Devil's Shingle away and tanned my ass.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:59 PM on December 21, 2015
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:59 PM on December 21, 2015
Reminds of the first roller coaster in NE PA
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:25 PM on December 21, 2015
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:25 PM on December 21, 2015
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posted by clavdivs at 10:13 AM on December 20, 2015