Wheels Are in Motion
National Roller Coaster Museum finds new focus and energy
by Jeremy Schoolfield
The National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives is an organization dedicated to the history of amusement parks, and right now it could be at the start of a historic period of its own.
Though founded as a “museum” in the early 1990s, the organization is still primarily only an archive of park memorabilia, as it has no display space to call home. But for the first time officials have hope that’s going to change, says board member and industry historian Richard Munch.
It starts with a bevy of new board members—headed by new chairman Gary Slade, publisher of Amusement Today— who bring renewed energy and focus to the organization, Munch says. The NRCMA also recently launched a new web site (www.rollercoastermuseum.org) and consolidated all of its collection into one building in Plainview, Texas, signs Munch points to as major milestones.
FUNWORLD spoke with Munch to catch up on all that’s going on with the museum and discover its plans for the future.
Can you provide a brief history of how the museum arrived at this point?
This all grew out of hobbyists and collectors putting materials together. I was part of the foundation of the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) in 1978, and one of our main objectives was to establish an archive of roller coaster materials.
It got serious around 1991 when the committee was formed to go in the direction of a permanent museum or a small location within an amusement park. It’s only within the last three years where we’ve gotten very serious about putting all this material in one place and then looking at the options going forward—maybe an online museum to start with so we can start getting some fund-raising, and then get the industry involved. We recently completed a building we own and will use for storage and archive activities. You can call it a flag in the ground. It is a start and a foundation we can build upon. Everyone keeps asking where [a permanent location] will be, but that’s all up in the air at this point. Right now we are waiting patiently for the right opportunity. We don't know where that will come from, but we continue to hope there is a property that takes history seriously enough to offer the museum exhibit space, if that is the direction the board chooses to go.
What significant changes have happened within the museum in the past few years?
Within the board itself, we now have Walt Bowser, vice president of maintenance and construction for Six Flags; Jeff Novotny, owner of Larson International, got involved about four years ago; Pete Owens of Dollywood; and Mark Moore, president of Uremet. So as more industry people get involved, they are getting the word out. We’re looking for one other person for the board, possibly from another major park. It’s a renewed energy on the board. Walt visits all the parks, and when he goes through the barnyards he asks, “Are you throwing this out? We’ll take it.” We’re taking a lot of these old pieces that would eventually be sold for scrap or whatever.
You’ve picked up some great pieces recently.
Our biggest acquisitions in the past six months have been the “Texas Giant” cars [from Six Flags Over Texas] and a train from “Big Bad Wolf” at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. That opens the door for a lot of other things, as a lot of other parks are saying, “We have some extra cars we don’t want, and we don’t know what to do with them.” They want to give it to someone who will take care of it.
Why is your new storage facility in Plainview, Texas, such an important milestone?
It’s basically a prefab building that was put up on a piece of donated land next to Larson International. This way, Jeff Novotny can use his equipment to get materials in and out. He’s trying to organize the collection, where everything’s stacked on palettes—it’s sort of like a Home Depot. The collection used to be in four different buildings, but we’re trying to eliminate those leases and have everything in one structure. And it’s designed in such a way that you can add on to it.
What’s the best way for parks to get involved with the museum?
Being aware of us would help a lot [laughs]. Gary is talking to a lot of people throughout the industry, and he’s the person we want as the main contact. The web site is going to help a lot, too. It will give an opportunity to see what’s in the collection, and a way to contact us to donate artifacts, memorabilia, or financial contributions.
Your collection is quite extensive at this point, right?
I only visited Plainview for the first time a year ago. Going through the four buildings, I was blown away. I knew we had stuff, but I didn’t know it was to this quality and quantity. Then the issue became, what do we do with it? Consolidating it into one building seems to have been the right decision, because it’s very impressive to walk in and see the variety. We have stuff from the ’20s and more than 45 cars, many models, blueprints, files, and photographs. We never say “no.” The only cost is to get the material to Plainview.
What is the benefit for parks to get involved with the museum?
We’re hoping they’re interested in the history of the industry. We are the stronghold, where we’re serious about keeping the stuff and making it available for future use. If you ever need it, you know where it is. You name it, we probably have it. We do a lot of purchasing on eBay of items we think will fit the museum.
So what are you going to do with it all now?
We’re starting to catalog it to find out what we have for setting up exhibits—first online, and then a permanent home. [A permanent location] is really what we’re looking for, and we figure that’s about five years down the line, if everything falls into place.
What needs to happen to get you into a physical museum space?
We think the cyber museum’s going to be the first thing. We started looking at more than 100 other museums and realized some of them have temporary installations or traveling exhibits; we could certainly go that route. But down the line we’re going to need a permanent place to display the collection. It could be part of a park, it could be between two parks, it could be its own entity. We may end up buying a park that’s going out of business … who knows? But we’re going to look at every option.
Of course a lot of that has to do with fund-raising and how much money we have to work with. Right now we’re quiet; we want to get all our ducks in a row and get this thing moving, particularly with the web site.
So the web site is the next big step?
Yes. We’re trying to get the word out, and we’re hoping someone comes forward and says, “I want to help you with this.” We want people to realize we’re very serious about what we’re doing. I’ve been involved with this for 35 years; I talked about it at the first ACE convention. That’s why ACE started.
Will ACE have a role with the museum going forward?
We hope so. Right now we’re separate, but I think in the future you’ll see us together again. We’re going to work toward a good relationship with them and other clubs.
Are you considering traveling exhibits in the future?
We’re thinking of putting together exhibits that would be in different parks, and that would be another way of raising interest and funds. We may help Six Flags with their 50th anniversary in 2011, setting up an exhibit in a small section of the park in [Six Flags Over Texas]. Nothing’s official, but they seem to be positive about it. The state fair in Dallas has an anniversary coming up, and they want to give us a building to use for a couple years to push the museum.
There have been opportunities in the past that we’ve let go by because of not much cash flow. But now we have the right people who say, “Yes, let’s get it done.” We have some special people in special places.
Contact Senior Editor Jeremy Schoolfield at jschoolfield@IAAPA.org.
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