Black Diamond is a

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

Knoebels' Amusement Resort Knoebels Amusement Resort () is a family-owned and operated amusement park, picnic grove, and campground in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1926, it is America's largest free-admission park. The park has more than 60 rides including three woo ...

Elysburg, Pennsylvania Elysburg is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ralpho Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is seventy miles north of Harrisburg. The population was 2,194 at the 2010 census. The area's biggest attraction is Knoebels Am ...

. The ride has a steel track on a wooden frame. The roller coaster originally opened in 1960 as the Golden Nugget in Hunt's Pier, and it eventually became part of

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Wildwood, New Jersey Wildwood is a city in Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area and is a popular summer resort destination along the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's year-rou ...

, where it operated until 1999 and stood until 2008-early 2009. The ride was relocated to Knoebels and reopened on October 8, 2011, as Black Diamond.

History

The Golden Nugget Mine Ride opened in July 1960 at Hunt's Pier on the newly constructed ocean side portion. The Golden Nugget was built three stories high with the top floor giving riders a mine car ride through the “desert.” The coaster was specially designed for Hunt's Pier by the

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia T ...

and was engineered by John C. Allen. The owners of the Pier constructed the frame, track supports, and facade in the 1959 off season. Bill Tracy designed the ride’s western theme pieces through his Amusement Display company. On December 11, 2008,

announced that the Golden Nugget would be demolished and that they would have a ceremony for the Golden Nugget on Saturday, January 31. On January 26, 2009 it was publicly announced that Knoebels' Amusement Resort had purchased the Golden Nugget track and trains from

. The Coaster was modified and rebuilt on the location where the park's former

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

habitat resided. The eagle's habitat has been relocated. The Black Diamond opened on October 8, 2011.

References

{{Knoebels Coasters Roller coasters introduced in 2011 Roller coasters in Pennsylvania

History

See also

References