Rand Show

Firstly some back story.

Within the coaster community there are many companies that make rides but there is one that is highly revered; Schwarzkopf, a German ride maker that ceased making coasters at the turn of the century. There are around 60 of their rides left around the world and they're still highly sought after.

A lot of the rides are in parks but there are a number that travel, and some times locating them can be a bit of a quest. One of the models was called the Silver Arrow and 3 were made. One resides in Busch Gardens Tampa, another sits at a former park in Scotland waiting for a new home and the third on, the oldest is on the travelling scene. For many years it was known to be in South Africa and from researching Google Earth we could see it showing up regularly at a fair in Pretoria.

I managed to track down the showman who explained that it would appear here every year. It worried me that I knew more of the background of the coaster than he did. It worried me even more when he couldn't spell Schwarzkopf in our discussion. I guess this chap didn't know what he had!

Unfortunately the plans to visit it in 2011 couldn't happen as the fair was on at a different time of year but also that year we noticed the ride didn't show up.

So, this led to thoughts it had been scrapped and a fresh investigation to track it down.

It was in 2014 that I found it in Johannesburg and looking at the historic imagery (yes, I do that too!) it was a apparent it had found a new home having been on the same spot for some time.

2012

2013, still in the same spot.

and in 2014 we had imagery showing it as part of a large fair.

So it was the discovery of this that led to us putting Guatemala to the side and scheduling a trip here instead.

So back-story over, here we were at The Rand Show. The largest fair in Joburg, which has a history going back to the late 1800s and it's now grown to be the largest exhibition fair in the world outside of the US (where everything is bigger so not a surprise)

As well as huge exhibition halls with loads of business selling everything from ice creams to entire living room furniture suites they fair has a big clay pot...

and a nice sized funfair!

It was quickly apparent we were going to get some more new rides under our belt today, which for someone who has already done all the static rides is a good thing!

The reason for coming here was the Looping Star coaster at the back of the fair. 

and we were extremely pleased to see it operating. The Silver Arrow coaster is similar to the Looping Star model, the big difference is that in the Arrow model the track goes through the loop. On the other model it does not. #GeekFact

Uh oh, with an odd number in our group this might have been a problem. Fortunately like in Gold Reef the signs aren't enforced and I guess the riders could tell we weren't going to dick about and let us ride singly.

So how was the ride? Holding up very nicely but there are signs that all the travelling it has done has taken it's toll. It's not rough, the track is still beautifully smooth and the loop, as with all Schwarzkopfs, is perfect The criticism is that it vibrates as it runs, it vibrates quite badly. In the back row putting your feet on the floor felt like the vibrating floor plates you get in fun-houses.

It's a minor gripe. We went back time and time again to ride it and were having a great time with the operators. Thomas did find the new owner and had a bit of a chat with him. The good news is that the ride is now permanently located here on the Rand site and that there are plans to run more fairs at different times of the year where the coaster can be enjoyed. 

It's nice to see the future mapped out for what is a great ride, and a discovery that put big smiles on our faces. 

Now for the other rides. Immediately next door is Speed Track, a great Flitzer model ride which whilst not as rare as the Silver Arrow (there are about a dozen of these left), had held up much better with a nice smooth run.

It's now also permanently located here although in the last few years it had been moved either side of the coaster each year.

We liked this ride a lot.

Up next was the Wacky Worm, a generic model that can be found all over the world. I like that non-enthusiasts think this is as kiddy a ride as I can get and I'm often ridiculed at why I'd want to ride something so tame. They were soon to realise on this holiday that this is actually quite big compared to some of the others I find, and attempt to ride.

The fair had a nice selection of rides, which looked to have been imported from abroad. There was a mixture of languages on the paintwork.

We found a fourth coaster called Runaway Train, which I was certain I'd seen in the UK. The "Europe's No.1" gave me a clue that this was definitely imported in and the ride type I know is made by a British showman. As someone who has ridden most of the UK travelling coasters I was confident that this wasn't a new tick for me.

Subsequent research discovered that this one was in the UK under the ownership of James Whiting who sold it and is now operating another one.

From the mid-sized big wheel I was able to get some nice photos of the rides. It was a little too close to the Schwarzkopf though :)

Elsewhere the Rand Show complex includes a Disney-esque monorail.

Some more entendre opportunities.

and a serious display of South African military might.

Actually, I quite enjoyed walking around this stuff. The thought of momentarily distracting the soldiers and stealing a tank did enter my mind a few times, but I guessed they had enough firepower close to hand with which to stop me...plus I don't know how to drive a tank.

The military doing their best to build bridges with the community.

There were a small number of trading standards outside of the huge halls.

Today featured a display of drifting and they were offering people the chance to get in the cars and be drifted around the circuit. We'd gotten there a bit late. The thought of momentarily distracting the drivers and stealing their cars did enter my mind, but I suspected I'd have lost it on the first corner.

a cool looking race car, which I thought about stealing but it was on the back of a truck so I couldn't have gotten very far.

and after a quick dinner of schwarma with some amazingly powerful hot sauce we then said goodbye to the fair and waited for our driver to pick us up, and waited, and waited, and waited then rung him and he was waiting at Gold Reef where he'd dropped us off. He'd somehow forgotten that we were making our own way to the fair.

Then he failed to find the fair so we had to wait some more and by now most of the public had left and even the marshals were finishing for the day. Only when we'd just about given up did he show up where he chastised us for referring to the location as "The Rand Fair" when the locals call it "The Rand Show". 

That aside, we were soon back at the hotel where we went straight to our rooms ready for the next long day.

Great fair, great coaster being preserved, great to get some other rides, not so great to have my head blown off by the local chili, and I think we came back with a strong case for why enthusiasts should come here even if they've been before. 

It wasn't so great that someone felt it necessary to break the news of our finds to the wider community before we'd even made it back to the UK; Clearly they'd felt the need to watch everything we did and try to take some credit for our research...so we held back on reporting too much from here on.

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