GREEN BAY, Wis. — Bay Beach Amusement Park's popular Zippin Pippin roller coaster will remain closed probably for a week after an accident Monday left three people injured.
Two park employees and a child were taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons after a moving train failed to come to a complete stop and rear-ended an empty train sitting in the ride station, Parks director Dawne Cramer said Monday.
She described the collision as a bump but couldn't account for how anybody was injured other than saying no one was thrown and that the injured were apparently in the moving train.
It was unclear as of late Monday afternoon whether the accident was an equipment failure or operator error, she said.
"Currently, we're calling in all the people we need to call about it," she said.
It happened about 12:45 p.m.
Fire and rescue officials were on the scene but had not indicated by late afternoon how seriously anyone had been injured. They had described the accident as being a result of brake failure.
The ride will remain closed probably a week while inspectors "go through every car," Cramer said.
The Zippin Pippin — or, more specifically, its design, its name and its salvageable pieces — was sold to Bay Beach for $100,000 in 2010, dismantled and moved to Bay Beach from Libertyland, a theme park in Memphis.
The Zippin Pippin — renowned for the scary-looking primitiveness of its 1912 pine wood construction — was rebuilt at a cost of about $3.5 million. It reopened in the new site in 2011.
According to a tribute website to Libertyland, the Zippin Pippin was singer-actor Elvis Presley’s favorite ride.
The website recounts a story about the final days of "The King": Presley rented Libertyland Aug. 8, 1977, from 1:15 a.m. until 7 a.m. to entertain about 10 guests. Wearing a blue jumpsuit with a black leather belt and huge belt buckle with turquoise studs and gold chains, Presley rode the Zippin Pippin repeatedly for two hours. At some point, he lost his belt buckle, but it was found and returned to him the next day.
Presley's Libertyland rental became his last public appearance. He died Aug. 16.
Contributing: The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal. Follow Paul Srubas on Twitter: @PGPaul Srubas
Related:
