Walk the Big One XL is a behind-the-scenes experience at Blackpool Pleasure Beach where you walk sections of The Big One roller coaster, including the brake runs and the climb to the top of the lift hill.
Friday afternoon, we all jumped into the car and headed up and over to Blackpool. As usual, the kids were starving, so we parked up and kicked off the evening with a visit to Wendy's. I had a Baconator cheeseburger with a cherry Dr Pepper. It was spot on. There was a dance event on at the Tower Ballroom, and Wendy's is on the same block, so there were lots of people wandering about dressed up like dancers while we ate.
I'll have a little moan about the parking apps. Why do you want to save my card details? I do not trust you with my data. Why does it take so long to sign up? I do not want to sign up, I just want to buy some parking. I could go on and on about this, but I won't. This is about Walk the Big One.
We drove down to the Pleasure Beach and parked up right outside the south entrance, opposite the Boulevard Hotel. We arrived at about 1845 for a 1900 start. After a couple of minutes at the gate, one of the team came over to meet us, let us in and got us to sign the forms.
We sat on the tables outside Burger King while the other walkers arrived, then we went into the HQ building for a safety briefing and to get into our harnesses and helmets.
The safety briefing is mixed in with a presentation about The Big One: stats, interesting stuff and some of the historic events tied to it. One of those was Richard Rodriguez riding it for 112 consecutive days. Just before we set off, each walker had their gear double checked by a different member of the team: straps checked, helmet wobbled. Then we set off for the track walk.
The Big One is one of those rides where the height depends who you ask: 235ft above sea level, or about 213ft from ground to the top of the lift. Either way, when you are clipped onto the stairs looking down at Blackpool, it feels plenty high enough.
We started at the station. They took us into the engineering shed under the main station, talked about the PLCs that manage the ride and the lift mechanism they use to add and remove trains. We spoke about the compounds of the wheel wrappers being the only thing that makes a train a "slow train" or a "fast train".
One of the best things about these tours is the staff. They were saying they inspect the wheels and trains each day, but they ride it so often that they can feel iffy wheels when they do their first ride of the day.
It is then out of the station and round into the main brake round the back of the station. They told us about how the brakes work. Normally on rides the brakes fail safe, so air pressure forces the calipers open, and if the compressor fails, the brakes move to closed. On The Big One, the compressor closes the brakes. They did say it takes about 30 minutes for the calipers to open, which gives them plenty of time to close the ride properly.
The numbers marked on the track are used by the engineers in their daily tests to calibrate the brake force applied. They set the brakes to stop the train at position X and then monitor where the front train is when it stops. The number closest the front of the train then tells them if they need to increase or reduce the pressure applied. Very simple, and very clever.
They talked about the design of the track. The distance between cow horns that support the running rails has been reduced on the re-tracked sections to improve the smoothness of the track and make it more resilient.
This first track walk is, as well as being very interesting, like a training session for moving the harness strap along the safety wire. Sliding it along is easy. The trick to getting it over the bullets that hold the cable is to hold your strap slightly past vertical and over the track, so the follower slides over the bullet easily.
After the main brake part, we went down into the photo tunnel right at the end of the ride. This was the first time you get up close and personal with high-speed track. You can see how much closer together the track horns are here than in the main brake section.
The team told us about the track re-profiling they have done over the years to smooth out the corner and try to reduce the throwing to the edge that the ride used to be famous for on this part. Despite the legend about the family of frogs who call the tunnel home, nobody was home when we visited.
Rather than come back the way we went, we walked round the track, triggering the camera as we walked past, the opposite way to the train through the tunnel and down onto the Pleasure Beach Express train track.
Our destination was the Big Blue Hotel mid-course, almost end-course, trim brake. On the walk round, the team told us tales about the train, the constant maintenance and painting they do, and the history. When we got to the bottom of the brake section, we met up with our friends and family who were not doing the walk.
The team who stayed with the families had brought them through secret pathways to meet us. It is little touches like this that take the visit from 9/10 to 10/10. Their main focus was making sure everyone, even the non-walkers, enjoyed the event, and that is brilliant. Everyone who was there left the park having been to places we never normally get to go to.
Before we went up onto the track, they pointed out this section of re-profiled track that has three horns stuck together. They told us this was because the track was slightly shorter than needed, so to fix it they stuck in the extra section of track with three horns. No blame was apportioned by the team. They told us about the firm they use for re-tracking work and how after their work on The Big One, they are now considered by the industry as re-tracking leaders.
Up onto the mid-course trim brake, which is the first point after the lift hill that they have any control over the speed of the train. It is much higher than you think it is: considerably higher than the Big Blue Hotel, and higher than the loading station of Revolution. When we were up there, the team talked us through the rescue process if the train "dips".
Dipping is where the train does not make it over one of the hills and rolls back to rest at a low point. The low point before the Big Blue is one of the easiest places to recover from a dip. Should it happen, they hook a winch to the train and pull it up to the brake platform. Once up there, the train should have enough potential energy to make it back to the station.
They told us that each morning they stop the train here and then set it off again to make sure that it makes it back home OK. I was surprised that there is enough oomph to get it home again. The next low point is in the photo tunnel, which is another easy-to-recover-from point. If it does not make it up the hill, they hook up a winch in the station and pull it up.
The track is marked here for the same reason as the main brake: where the train stops tells them if the brake worked as programmed and allows them to make any adjustments required. The nightmare dip point is after the second drop when the track is parallel with the promenade. If it happens here, they have to close the prom, split the train, load it onto a lorry, drive it back to the station and then unload it with a crane.
The last time the train dipped, our lead walker had the dubious honour of being the one who sent the train: "four years ago, and they're still giving me grief about it!"
Up on here you get your first proper view and idea of just how tightly packed the park is. In this section of park you have Big Dipper track, Steeplechase track, Icon track and, of course, Big One track. In the distance you can see the rest of the park.
Back on ground level you meet up with friends and family for a walk through the secret backstage pathways back to the bottom of the lift hill. Then comes the main event: walking up to the top. Once everyone is clipped back onto the safety wire, the climb begins. They stop four times on the way up, every 100 steps or so. The first stop at 50 feet is about the same height as the Big Blue brake point, and provides a great view of North park.
Once everyone was ready and done taking pictures, we set off again. When we stopped at 100 feet, the sign was obscured, so I got a nice snap of the newest member of the skyline club, Aviktas.
The wind was very calm when we were there, so there was not much movement. But somewhere between the 100 and 150 foot stops, we felt it move. Nothing too dramatic, but it was much quicker than I expected. When we stopped at 150 feet, you really start to feel how high the ride is. Views for miles in each direction, the wind farm coming into view, and the sun was just starting to set. Awesome.
The 200 foot marker is pretty much at the top. I was so giddy I forgot to take a picture. The view was great and I just wanted to crack on and get to the top. The red line at the bottom of the sky just above the sea was getting more and more visible, and I could not wait to get up the last few steps. The steps flatten out just before the top, and the platform is plenty big enough for 10 or so people.
The lead walker acts as a barrier at the end of the platform: thou shalt not pass. It looks from here like the platform just drops off to nothing, but there are a few steps down which lead to another platform, where in the past they used to do a yearly abseil down from. Since the Boulevard popped up, there is no longer enough room to do it.
As you can imagine, the view is spectacular. We had a clear-ish, calm night and could not really ask for better conditions. Up there it is so calm, and having a 360 view of the park, the promenade, Blackpool, and off into the distance the Lake District, Lancashire, Southport and even Wales was breathtaking.
We spent about 15 minutes at the top, plenty of time for photos, taking in the view, chatting to the team and even video calling Mitch and Nicky. The team made sure everyone was ready before setting back off. The whole way round, nothing was rushed. There was plenty of time to enjoy the experience.
Back on the ground, the team were happy to hang about for photos and final questions before helping you out of the safety gear. In the shop there was a small selection of drinks and sweets for refreshment after the experience. The shop also contains a couple of bits of "Walk the..." merch. As we did Walk the Big One, we picked up a hoodie for me and a windproof jacket for Fin.
As a final nice touch, the team give out Walk the Big One pins to everyone who walked. It has now got pride of place along my shelf of badges.
The whole experience was excellent. The team were great, and the highlight was obviously the climb to the top, but the XL part where you walk the other sections of the track and get to see more of the machine was splendid. If you are into coasters, then it is well worth a visit. This is the second behind-the-scenes type experience I have done at Blackpool, and they have both been outstanding.
If you fancy doing your own, head over to the Walk the Big One XL website and book yourself on. It is a wonderful event.
