Cranger Kirmes will be starting on Friday, August 1, 2003 and there is already quite a lot of action on the fairground in Herne. Most showmen have already appeared and start bringing up their rides.

Yesterday we did a trip to Crange in order to take some pictures of the rising of rides.

Here you will find some of them.

First of all Crange is the name of a suburban neighbourhood of the town of Herne. Herne itselt is located in the Ruhr-area with bigger cities like Dortmund, Bochum, Essen and Gelsenkirchen surrounding the town. Crange is a part of the town of Wanne-Eickel which lost its status of being an independent town itself in the 70s and became a part of the town of Herne.
Crange is located next to a canal - The Rhein-Herne-Kanal - therefore the fairground has a natural (manmade border by the water. Cranger Kirmes (which translates to fairground in/of Crange) is one of the biggest fairgrounds in Germany in terms of visitors (about 4 millions), space and number of rides. It is actually one of the Top 5 Grandplätze (grand places) among them Munich Oktoberfest and Stuttgart Wasen.

We added a special section about what Crange is all about and what can be found there. Of course this is mainly in German language. But go ahead and try to read most parts are accompanied by pictures.

Here are some pictures of building up the fairground:

There is a structure called "Cranger Tor" (Crange Gate) which marks the entry to the fairground

The number reflects on the anniversary. 567 was 2002 anniversary of the fair.

There is a wild mouse called "Wilde Maus" by showman Eberhard from Hamburg and showman Göbel from Worms


Turbo Force by showman Schäfer from Schwerte is a Zamperla Booster. It was last year's novelty at Crange and also this year it wil be operated on the so called "Neuheiten-Platz" (Place for novelties) where always new rides are introduced to the Crange visitors. I would have expected something different in this spot but I found it somewhere else. The showman is also presenting his Mondial Shake called "Shake & Roll".



A classic ride is "Happy Sailor" by showman Manfred Howey from Bremen. His Mack ride is celebrating 25 years of travelling in 2003. In the background you can see the supporting structure of the big Ferris wheel "Bellevue" by showman Bruch.


Another classic will return this year: The "1001 Nacht - Fliegender Teppich" (1001 Nights - Flying Carpet) by showman Finnendahl from Bremen. This is a classic ride by German manufactor Weber also from Bremen. The company dissappeared in the 1980s. Finnendahl travelled in the 80s with the big indoor ride "Fantastische Reise" (Fantastic Voyage) which was sold to Gorky Park in the mid-90s. After that they travelled with the portable observation tower "Top of the World" which has found a steady home in German amusement park Freizeitland Geiselwind in Bavaria.


A new walkthrough is called "Mystery". It premiered in Düsseldorf two weeks ago and is being presented by showmen and brothers Bügler. They are also operating their walkthroughs "Tal der Könige" ('Valley of kings' with an ancient Egyptian theming) and "Jura World" which goes in further back in time to the era of the dinosaurs.



Some of the f&b showmen already do open their businesses to cater for the showmen, their workers and families, and also for the curious pre-Kirmes visitors.



A Giant and a Dwarf: Power Tower 2 by showman Ewald Schneider from Bielefeld (a Maurer-Söhne freefall) and the "Krinoline" (do not know an English expression for that name) by showman Heinrich Roie from Frankfurt.


More will be coming soon.

Thanks for the pictures, Tejay! Also thanks for the history on the town of Crange as well.

I saw the ride list. It's good to see High Energy will be there, but I have a question about Power Tower 2. From the pictures I have seen, am I right in that the cable which drives it is only connected on one side... meaning, it can never fall as fast as gravity? Does it give a good ride?

It looks like a very high quality ride, but I'm curious about how thrilling it is.

-Iain

Ian, you shouln't ask me about technical stuff of rides. I do not know a lot about that. When, where and by whom o.K., but when it comes to the technical details I'm out. But maybe someone else can help with that. Maybe coasterdan (The guy I would phone when it comes to answering the t-stuff in a TV-million-dollar-quiz-show). Or maybe Looping Star does know. In my opinion the PT2 is not that extreme like other freefall rides. Of course it is the highest among the travelling rides, but when it comes to dropping there is better stuff in the parks (Scream/Wild Bunch/Mystery Castle). The tower offers a lot of variations and taking into account its lightshow effects it is of course a top ride. It is operated very individually by the Schneider couple. I did the Power Tower 2 only once in its inaugural season last year at Oberhausen fair. Depending on the crowds they do have some long stops at the top position before taking the first plunge. This waiting of course adds to building up the thrilling tension of the ride experience.
There is a second Maurer Söhne tower at German amusement park Hansa-Park at the Baltic Sea called Montezuma. It has an onboard sound system with some techno beats and a countdown. But it is actually less higher.
I would consider both of them as fun rides not as extreme rides.

The admins pictures.

Scotty and Rainer were also with me on a trip to the future fairground. Here are their pictures:

This is the future location of Wildwasser, the log flume ride by showman Löwenthal


Sensorium - seemingly still very naked...


Wachsmanns Braterei - according to Rainer this is THE Address for "Lecker essen auf Crange" (deliciously eating at Crange)


SteinmeisterŽs Bierpavillon - this is the location where in future nights the action and drinking will take place - perhaps the heart of Crange


Scotty doing an inspection of Euro Star Part 1


Scotty doing an inspection of Euro Star Part 2


The Flying Carpet by showman Finnendahl


Sunset at Rhein-Herne-Kanal

Awesome photos. I still find it amazing that Eurostar is transportable... it seems like it must be so much work to put it together.

-Iain

Some more Euro Star stuff?

Okay, here we go.

The first one is actually from two weeks ago (during the first onride-members-meeting at the fair in Düsseldorf).



The others were taken on Wednesday in Crange.





Euro Star will also be our next weeks Coaster of the week. So keep coming back for more stuff and stories.

And some more impressions from Wednesday's trip:

Big Monster by showman Krameyer


High Energy by showman Jasmin Kaiser


And some of the Finnendahl "1001 Nacht"

And a final addition of Wednesday pictures

One of the signature rides of the fairground: the Bellevue giant wheel by showman Oscar Bruch



One of the few rides that lasts forever: Big Monster (Schwarzkopf Monster 3)


One of the loveliest Zierer Wave Swingers "Circus Wellenflug" by showman Kaiser.


Wilde Maus by showmen Eberhard and Göbel


Probably the oldest ride on the fair: the Rotor by showman Pluschies


Probably the newest ride on the fair: High Energy by showwoman Jasmin Kaiser

The little monsters with the "FAB" hats on their head are a nice touch to High Energy.

-Iain