the bobs roller coaster riverview park chicago

[Farenheit4051]

It certainly didn't go 70 mph. It's max speed probably wasn't even 60.

[ProChoiceJesus]

This would be without much doubt the #1 roller coaster in the world had it survived. Watching it I can tell that this Prior & Church masterpiece had ejector air and strong air on probably every hill...EVERY, and every turn...EVERY...possessed intense laterals. Most of the hills & turns were combos which meant stand-up airtime followed by rib-crushing laterals, except the thick, sofa-like padding on the most incredible trains ever created prevented actual broken bones!

[ProChoiceJesus]

Whoa, that little chain lift before the lift hill...that was strange!

[paulbuck1951]

The late humorist Jean Shepherd related a story of riding 'The Bobs' on one of his New York broadcasts. I still have a tape of that show and enjoy hearing his description of the ride.

[stokleysgirl]

I used to ride this when I was a little gilr. My friends and I actually still talk about Riverview all of the time. There is nothing to compare t o this amusement park and I've been to a lot of them.

[sjtom57]

I'll take an old family-run park and old coaster any day over the modern corporate-run warehouses they call theme parks.

[GarrettGrrt]

5 minute lines??? haha

Wow, this seems like the true ultimate roller coaster! Too bad they tore the damn park down... I'd do anything to have this thing rebuilt. But perhaps that would taint its legend... Who knows, all we're left with now are the memories, thank god we've got a great POV of it though!

[cgsilverscreen2020]

My grandfather told me about this amazing park. I wish it could have lasted. I was born in 1991 so I wasn't even close. My grandmother lost her shoe on the parachute ride!

[cgsilverscreen2020]

what is this from and where can I find it?

[EuroTre1]

Perhaps the best roller coaster ever made. My mom was actually able to Riverview before it closed. I am so jealous.

Here's hoping some park someday wants a replica.

[PHAEDRIDER]

@EuroTre1 they tried at geauga lake , i heard it didnt work so good.

[Peekypeck]

@PHAEDRIDER Geauga's Raging Wolf Bobs was nowhere near as intense or exciting as Riverview's Bobs, and had a different layout as well. The only thing the two rides had in common was the waterwing footprint.

[OLDMUSCLE]

Unclebobunclebob you are so right. The Greyhound, (later the Jetstream), Flash, Comet, Wild Mouse, Flying Turns were all GREAT coasters, but you could not truly earn your stripes until you had ridden the Bobs and the Fireball! Those were the coasters you had to conquer to be considered a true daredevil! I never thought I'd get to ride one of the most amazing roller coasters ever built again either. This video takes me back to one of my best childhood memories EVER!

[TheOtterspace2]

2nd rides 15 cents..remember the trunkful of single earrings siting on the deck?

the flying turns waz my fav though even though near the end you'd often get stuck on the tube in the middle of the ride....

[derekgee]

To answer the question, the Riverview Bobs was NEVER shortened to make way for other rides. There actually were some sections where bracing was added, not removed. The land it sat on was once a swimming pool, so that maybe where the story about land reclaimation came from, but that was when it was built, not expansion after WW2. The Blue Streak coaster was reworked into the Fireball, and this may be a possible origin to the story of track removed as well.

[DAGUY]

I loved riding the Bobs.

I rode it more thqan 10 times at a time often.

25c a ride and ride again for 5c.

Yah, I'm old.lol

That was in the 40's & 50's.

[Peekypeck]

One more thing Kerma17:

What was it like to ride? Is there a ride today which compares? I'd have loved to have ridden this coaster myself but unfortunately I was born nearly 20 years after it's destruction :(

[kerma17]

Check out again !" Bobs/Tornado roller coaster Coney Island N.Y. It was designed by Fred Church." Read post Wnorronz !

I felt you were to young to have actually have rode the Bobs ! I'm in my 60's. I have not been on a coaster in years, but the bobs were "brutal" & a very "rough ride". It made one feel like a" rag doll"" in the teeth of a Pit bull" !

[Peekypeck]

Yes, the Tornado is another one I'd have liked to have ridden :( Swampfoxer had a POV video of the Tornado up recently, but he's deleted it .

Church also built a Bobs coaster in England, but the owners demolished it in 1970. It held the record as the world's fastest rollercoaster at the time. There's a video of that here on youtube, too, including full POV footage.

[Wnoronz]

@Peekypeck The Manchester Bobs was demolshed in 1971 with 1970 having been the last season of operation. It's difficult to tell from a filmed ride but Riverview Bobs seems a less pacy ride than Belle Vue's and had more straight sections, whereas Belle Vue's Bobs had just one. Belle Vue's Bobs was 90feet high at its track's highest point (the top of the lift hill) which was pretty high for the time it was built (1928-29)

[Peekypeck]

If you do have a concrete source for the claim it's layout was changed, I'd be very interested in seeing it since I'm doing a bit of research into Fred Church's Bobs coasters. I've also ordered a copy of "Laugh Your Troubles away: the complete history of Riverview Park" by Derek Gee and Ralph Lopez - hopefully that book will confirm whether the layout was ever changed or not.

[kerma17]

To think that the Bobs was a much longer ride than before they tore it& Riverview down. I was told after world war 2 they had to tare down a lot of it's track to make room for newer rides !

[Peekypeck]

That's not true, kerma17. The Bobs was Riverview's premier ride - in opening year (1924) it out-grossed all the other coasters in the park by 3 to 1, and apparently continued to do so until the park closed. It was one of the best rollercoasters the world has ever seen. Why would they change it?

[kerma17]

I did not say thay the Bobs was not the premier rollercoaster, what I said was that the length of the tracks by time I began riding the Bobs in mid 50's was a shorter ride, compared to the original tracks when it opened in the 20's ! They needed more room after world War 2 too expand & build new rides .

That's very different from saying the Bobs was not the A one attraction at Riverview !!

You should READ post before you give a knee jerk reaction !

[Peekypeck]

If you change the layout of a ride, for whatever reason, you risk making it worse. From the day it opened, the Bobs consistently made 3 times as much money as all the other rides - a significant achievment. Personally I doubt that Riverview management would risk damaging the phenomenal popularity of the Bobs just for a little bit more land to build on.

Do you have a source for the claim it's layout was changed? I'd be interested in seeing it. :)

[kerma17]

You might want to check out Swampfoxer Ch. For he has lots of ventage clips of coasters esp. "Palisades Amusement Park Harry G. Traver." it will give an idea what the Bobs tracks might have looked like in the 20'. Remember Riverview was the biggest amusement park of it's day !

[Peekypeck]

I have been following swampfoxer's channel for some time - his channel is a truly excellent contribution to youtube. However, the Traver coaster at you mention wasn't a Bobs coaster. The Bobs was designed by Fred Church and was much better-designed.

A chap called coasterpix is selling an aerial photo of Riverview taken in 1931, which can be found on ebay. If you look closely at the Bobs, you can see that the layout was identical to how it was when they tore it down in 1967.

[Jcoaster95]

That looks AWESOME!!!

[BassPlayerSusan]

Holy sh!t, that was one mean-looking coaster!

[AdrenalineAddict610]

The only POV of this amazing ride. Thanks so much for sharing this piece of history.

[RCF919]

Wow, that must have pulled major lateral g's.

[caldragon7]

I miss the Bobs and Riverview Park. It was my favorite amusement park. Bob was my favoirt followed by The Fireball and the Flying Turns. Great memories! Thanks for the post Frankraven!

[kneebush]

Not true at all. Completely different rides.

Aside from having the same trains the rides were totally different.

[unclebobunclebob]

Never thought I'd get to "ride" The Bobs again. Thanks.

[unclebobunclebob]

In my group, you were a wus until you rode both The Bobs and The Fireball at Riverview

[staunchcharacter]

Amazing - thank you! One of the finest POV's I've seen! Articzoo - the Bobs/Tornado at Coney was known for speed and very intense corners - the folks I know who rode it (a very good friend maintained it) tell me that the speed was the thing.

[BenAliGtor]

It wasn't "West Side real estate"- Riverview was on the Northwest Side-Western & Belmont. And it may have seemed like 75 MPH- but 35 is more realistic. The park closed in 1967.And along with enjoying White Castle sliders, growing up on Bozo's Circus, and knowing whose phone # was "HUdson 3-2700", having ridden the Bobs is a litmus test of a real Chicagoan.

[RIVERVEIW1967]

I road the bobs it was very fast, at time i was 7 yr old but tall for my age, last sat i walk down old riverview walk at belmont and westrn i still  miss the rv pk

[stashpendoza]

Excellent ride, almost as much fun as I remember!

[quabbinlakepark]

This is probably the smoothest footage I've ever seen of the Bobs on a full run. Thank you so much for posting this.

[ahoffman50]

Fantastic footage of an all but forgotten coaster.

[the3jake2]

Where did you get this wonderful footage? This is great!