High tea for theme park workmen in homage to iconic New York scene

WORKMEN at Alton Towers took a well-earned rest after construction was completed on the theme park’s biggest rollercoaster - enjoying lunch and a cup of tea perched on one of the ride’s highest points.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Apr 2013, 01:01 BST
Workmen from Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire, celebrated the completion of the new worlds-first highest roller coaster, The Smiler, by creating a modern-day version of the famous Lunch atop a Skyscraper shot from 1932.Workmen from Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire, celebrated the completion of the new worlds-first highest roller coaster, The Smiler, by creating a modern-day version of the famous Lunch atop a Skyscraper shot from 1932.
Workmen from Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire, celebrated the completion of the new worlds-first highest roller coaster, The Smiler, by creating a modern-day version of the famous Lunch atop a Skyscraper shot from 1932.

The 11 workers donned flat caps and dungarees for the occasion in homage to the iconic 1932 Lunch Atop a Skyscraper image - which depicts builders sitting on a girder 840ft (256m) above the streets of New York during construction of the GE Building, at Rockefeller Center.

Though not quite matching the skyscraper in height, the latest addition to the resort - The Smiler - features dizzying drops of up to almost 100ft (30m) and a maximum speed of nearly 53mph (85kph).

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It is the most expensive ride ever to have been built at the Staffordshire theme park, costing more than £18m over an eight-month construciton period.

More than 16,000 tonnes of soil was removed from the site to make way for the 700 tonnes of steel and over 31,000 bolts required to build the adrenaline-pumping ride.

Site manager Mike Tubb said: “We have had a team of around 50 men, working more than 3,000 hours across the past eight months to build the biggest rollercoaster Alton Towers has ever seen.

“We have been taking breaks in some strange places but today we thought we would enjoy a well-earned cup of tea on top of one of the ride’s highest loops to capture the significant moment.”

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The ride, which hurtles passengers from start to finish in a breathtaking 165 seconds, will feature a series of effects “designed to blur the lines between illusion and reality”, according to theme park bosses.

These are now due to installed and programmed before the ride goes into full testing ahead of its opening to the public in May.

Many details of the rollercoaster, which was until January codenamed Secret Weapon 7, remain a closely-guarded secret including a promised “world first” element, which has yet to be unveiled.

Alton Towers spokeswoman Katherine Duckworth said: “We wanted to mark the completion of The Smiler’s construction in a memorable and fun way considering all the hard work and investment that has gone into constructing it.

“Recreating such an iconic image is the perfect way to do this before we open this hugely anticipated rollercoaster to the public in May.”

Related topics:Alton TowersNew York