Amusement parks, theme parks, ride photography

Inside Alton Towers Black Hole Tent

Ive had this set of photographs lying around for some, Ive had a couple of offers from various people to publish them but I suppose ive been a bit selfish really and kept them to myself.

A bit of History about the ride. The Black hole is a Schwarzkopf Jet star 2 coaster with a length of 1919ft, Height of 44′3 and a duration of 1min 50 seconds. It was originally brought to Alton Towers as the Black hole in 1983 before going through a couple of name changes, New Black Hole, Black Hole 2 and finally back to Black hole again. The ride was closed in 2006.

So finally heres a set of photographs taken in July 2007 from inside the Black Hole Tent at Alton Towers.

From outside, some of the old artwork.

Some of the original theming still hanging about

A bit dark but showing the full dome.

Track lying across the floor

Shot of the cars.

Clearly showing the supports still in place.

The ride cars.

Control systems

The loading bay, still pretty much intact.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

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Thanks for Reading.

There Are 28 Responses So Far. »

  1. hi what fab photo’s such a sad shame i remember riding it when it first openend and the que was always massive even right to the end.

  2. Hi Nicola,
    It was, I dont know how many times i turned up to queue and it was right back up the hill, always worth it though from what i remember ;-)

    Cheers

  3. It’s a shame that this ride has been left simply to rot. It was always fun and truely I don’t know what they’ll do with it. It’s a piece of coaster history and unfortunatly people dont seem to care. It’s a sad day when they do this and just leave it there collecting dust.

  4. it’s not been left to rot, they’ve sold it to a place in brazil

  5. Hi Phil,
    Thanks for the comments.

    I think what was meant was it was closed some time ago and becuase of the problems getting the ride exported “it had been left to rot” as its been a while now.

    Thanks

  6. Heyyy.
    How come it closed?
    I heard someone fell of hit the bottom and cracked there head and died? o.o;
    Is this trueeee?

  7. Hi i can remember goin on this when i was younger i was about 7 or 8 wen i went on it but i neva managed 2 get bak on it again n i no sum 1 hu works there

  8. It ay true lisa it was shut down cos it was 2 old n the health n safty would cost 2 much

  9. Hi, This Truly Was A Good Ride, Never Been On it but i think they should keep the tent Up as a memorial to the ride but clear out the stuff or put some museum ish stuff inside to keep the spirit of black hole alive, a great ride though, its amazing though because it almost feels like somebody died you know?

  10. hi, i’m really enjoy all schwarzkopf rides. we need help to find a jet star 2 for buying. rumors always is it when a ride its left de park to introduce a new ride. so if you can, contact the park and tell me how much cost this ride.

    best regards.

    the gravity club

  11. It was dismantled but still remains in the tent, after the sale to a Brazilian park fell through due to a change in governments and import law.

    Quote from Wikipedia, so yes the black hole was left to rot & not sold

  12. why did the black hole exactly close down?
    just heard rumors about things that might of happened and wondered if they were true.
    thanks.

  13. hi , ijust thought i wud comment and say that i loved the black hole and truely thought it was one of the best rides alton towers had!
    its a shame theyve closed it but as its still there theres still the possiblity of rebuilding it or them replacing it and keeping the dome tent.
    i dont know why it closed but it had sumit to do with the health and safely of it , its just whether someone was hurt in order for them to find out
    Oh and finally i agree with charlie davies as they shud put a museum or memorial about it because this ride was a coaster legand and shud be remembered

  14. oh and thanks for the pictures its intresting to see inside and what they have done with it ! :)

  15. Yeah, did it close down because someone was hurt? I heard a someone died in the 1980’s too, does anyone know anything about this? My sister said it was in the news back when she was just under 16, and then it closed down and the rumours are someone else died? It was a good ride but was rather unsafe. I remember being able to look over one side of the car and seeing nothing (as was the point) but it always worried me if anyone decided to be ‘clever’ and rock the cab.

  16. Ha, love the rumours.
    No fatal on the black hole. Health and saftey laws are always changing and recent changes would have meant major structural modifications to the ride. Nothing to do with falling out of the cars etc! Issue was change in requiered clearance between train and supports/track/station. Health and saftey decided you could theoretically trap arms etc(if you were a moron), never mind that this never happened. So no more fun for anyone – thanks health and saftey!

  17. wonder if the reader is getting this confused with Space Invader (as it was) at blackpool. Dark enclosed coaster that did unfortunately have a fatality.

  18. sad to see such a great ride go – good memories of riding it over many years….

  19. I have been living in Texas for the last few years, and was looking forward to riding the Black Hole again on my return to the UK! Bah!

    So many happy memories of Alton Towers, but especially the black hole as it was the first “proper” coaster that I ever rode, waaaay back in the day.
    I would have loved to have one of those cars for my living room, heh heh!

  20. The rumour I heard was even better. I heard someone managed to stand up just before it descended and decapitated the rider which of course no one knew about til they came out the other end into the light. Ha ha!

    I am truly gutted this ride is closed. It always was and always will be my favourite ride at Alton Towers. I loved the tension build in the dark as you spiralled up the coaster and then waiting for that drop still not having a clue what was going on. Fabulous!

    While it might have been very costly to upgrade I think it would be worth it for them to just start again and build another one. Come on the Towers resurrect the Black Hole once again!

  21. Hi, I remember the story about someone dying in the 80’s too. It’s true, but it was nothing to do with the ride itself. A gentleman had a heart attack on the ride and died shortly afterwards. Very sad. It’s such a shame they have left the ride in a state of disrepair like that, I agree it should be preserved in a museum.

  22. Id love one in my living room too Helen, I can imagine the postage rates to Texas been a bit steep though ;-)

  23. I know what happened … the ride was closed in 2003 because someone died on the ride . There was rumors circulating the park when i was there a few weeks later so i asked one of the workers and they told me that a teenage boy decided to somehow raise his body out of the seat just enough to get his neck struck by a beam .

    Im not sure if this is true or not im just telling you all what i got told

  24. Just incase anyone is still interested – as a bit of an update – the Black Hole Tent now no longer has the track, cars or themeing anymore (As it has, as some people have stated, been sold on and removed from the park some time ago) but the station, staircase and some basic support structure for bits of the ride are still in the tent not having been touched. The tent is primarily used for storage and maintenance work nowadays, and for the foreseeable future – still as dusty as ever!
    Pity really.

  25. Thanks Felicity, When i visited it had lockers and a load of teddys for the concessions. Do you know who it was sold onto ?

    It was quite eary for me seeing the steps and the loading platform when we did the tour, such a shame really as it was a great ride.

    Thanks again for the comments. ;-)

  26. The lockers were still there until up to 6 or 7 months ago but most have finally been trashed now – the space is mostly used for maintenance work on bits of the other rides now (cars etc). Im not sure who the ride was sold onto,sorry, just know that it all disappeared, cars, track and supports.

    Your right though – its really creepy. Especially the structure and themeing of some of the corridoors still partially being in place (too dangerous to walk through though)

    Hope its been of help.

  27. Cheers thanks for sharing that Felicity ;-)

  28. hi, i really dont think that the amazing ride the balack hole should of been demolished, because it was a true legand since 1988 but they must have plans 4 a new ride because they would of demiloshed the dome tent but watever they are planning 2 bulid, it will never live up 2 the balck hole, :)

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