History of the Silverwood Central Railway

[swfan1988]

Hey Coaster Alley Community!

I stumbled upon this full on ride video of the train from August 2002: youtu.be/1HFyScljSOA

I thought it was interesting how many attractions have changed since then (Boulder Beach, climbing wall, battle boats etc.) But I was mostly impressed by how much the train ride has changed since then. I have only seen the newer stunt show/robbery/expedition theme but it was interesting to see just a simple guy with a gag about an escape route/jail.

This got me wondering about the rest of the trains history. Now I know about the history of the train itself, but I am curious about the history of the on ride show, narration, etc. I know at one point they switched to a pre recorded spiel before changing back.

I was wondering if anybody could shed some light on the history of the train and it's show?

Also, in the video right about where the buffalo are today, the narrator mentions something from a TV show that's visible from the train, I'm pretty sure he says Banana Shack but I can't quite make it out (I already checked, Banana Shack isn't a TV show, that I could find). Does anybody know what he's talking about?

Thanks! Here's to the park opening on May 30!!

[swfan1988]

Here's a piece of the puzzle!


www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/may/12/have-you-herd/?amp-content=amp

According to this article, the buffalo were added in 2006, along with the Indian village. It sounds quite extensive with what they first built, but it must have disappeared slowly cause I only remember a few tepees before they were replaced by the Bigfoot monument thing.

[swfan1988]

Ok, from viewing various videos of the train robbery it appears that they just had a rotating set of seasonal actors every year, until 2013. That seems to be when they started the Marshall Jack story and they seemed to have begun to solidify the story around 2013 as well. I think they added more of the bidfoot/cryptozooologist expedition stuff in 2017/2018.

Can anyone confirm?

[skinnyguy]

That sounds more or less correct to me. I remember the main guy named "Steamer" who used to do the narration for a really long time, until I believe 2010. They tested out a pre-recorded narration on the Scarywood train in fall of 2009, and then replaced Steamer in 2010 with a pre-recorded narration. That didn't go over well, because the following year in 2011, they were back to live actors narrating. A few years after that, they added the 'stunt show' component to the robbery show. I don't remember the exact year, but 2013 seems reasonable.

[jspider]

I've been so busy in the chaos of this year but this reminds me how much I'd originally intended to catalog changes made yearly for Scarywood to the park and how much I regret how I wasn't able to keep up with it.

The train ride is a great one to catalog because like Scarywood it is one of the parks more creative endeavors and is likely to have changed in subtle and not so subtle ways over the years.

I remember the hijacking from when I was a kid and I went on the train again in 2009 and it felt different but I couldn't say exactly what had changed with the performance as time has past.

I remember when they let Steamer go and him posting about it on Facebook. I have yet to go on the ride since the Bigfoot additions, I've been curious though I feel in some ways that without kids I'm a bit out of place on the train but it is still a fairly relaxing experience to do.

Anywho you've inspired me to at least record this much and update a Silverwood media repository I'm storing up on my hardrive for if I ever do try to create a park history presentation lol.

[swfan1988]

Thanks all!

It must have been "Steamer" who was seen in the video from 2002.

The biggest things that changed for 2020 rides is that the narrator and the fairy tale theming continue passed the stunt show like last year. But they must have gotten some complaints because they added some more figures and added "poachers" as an element. This definitely helps and the poacher got what they diserved...

This solves several issues but I still think it's a little jumbled between the old wild west stunt show and the fairy tale/expedition theme.

Scarywood seems to have quite the history of its own, but I think between the old RCA trip reports (if there still on the site?) and people's memories it should come together.

[Bowl300NK]

When Marshall Jack came onto the train he did lots of things. Watch this video below by clicking on the link...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2bNPWr-e3U&feature=share