MUST SEE: Working Cincinnati Coney Island Amusement Park Model at EnterTRAINment Junction

EnterTRAINment Junction in West Chester, Ohio calls itself the world’s largest indoor model railroad display. This 25,000 square foot display consists of over 90 G-scale trains encompassing the early era of American railroading, the middle era, and the modern era. But the highlight for theme park and roller coasters fans is a working Cincinnati’s Coney Island Amusement Park model.

coney island amusement park model

Ohio Grove, a small amusement and waterpark on the banks of the Ohio River, was renamed Coney Island in 1887. The Coney Island amusement park model covers more than a thousand square feet and features working rides from Coney Island’s heyday in 1965. All rides and attractions were made by hand, from scratch, based on historic photos and dimensions.

The Shooting Star roller coaster is 40-feet long and 4-feet tall. It ranks right up there with Adam Throgmorton’s coaster for the best working model roller coaster I’ve seen.

If you were lucky enough to be one of the millions of visitors who visited Coney Island over the years then you will probably recognize the park’s treasured attractions of the past,  including the front gate entrance way, Lake Como, Moonlite Gardens, tree-lined Coney mall, picnic areas, Skeeball Arcade, basketball games and the Ohio River Gate with its steamboat landing. Additional rides include the Wild Mouse family coaster, Train Ride, Haunted House, Turnpike, Skyride, Dodgems, the Whip, Cuddle Up, the Lost River, the Ferris Wheel, Flying Rockets, Tumblebug and Carousel. Most were recreated at 1/24 scale.

There is also a day/night cycle lighting effect: 15 minutes of daytime followed by five minutes of night.


 

What happened to the real Coney Island in Cincinnati? In July of 1969, Coney Island was purchased for $6.5 million by Taft Broadcasting, the company that built and opened nearby Kings Island in 1972. The original Coney Island would close forever following the 1971 season. Coney Island’s smaller rides were dismantled and most of them including the Turnpike, the Log Flume, the Carousel, the Tumble Bug, Monster, Scrambler, Giant Slide, Round Up, Flying Scooter, Galaxi, Sky Ride Rotor, Cuddle Up and Dodgem, were moved to King’s Island to continue to thrill the residents of Southwestern Ohio. Unfortunately, other old favorites such as the Shooting Star, Teddy Bear and Lost River were left behind and demolished. The park reopened in 1973 but was a shadow of its former self. For the complete history of Coney Island check out: http://coneyislandpark.com/history

Special thanks goes out to Randal of ModelCoaster.com for sending us the following close-up pictures of the Shooting Star’s cars and track. He says “The track is black Lexan plastic that is a quarter of an inch (6.35 mm) thick. The four-car train has the same exact wheel configuration of a real-life roller coaster with load, side friction and up stop wheels. The train is conveyed to the top of the lift by a chain which the train attached to via magnets.”

Coney Island Amusement Park Model Video

Here’s a short video I took of some of the details that can be seen in the Coney Island Amusement Park model:


If you’re visiting Kings Island with kids this summer and you have extra time I highly recommend checking out Entertrainment Junction.

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