Canada's Wonderland's Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel

Quite the title for a posting isn't it. It's almost daunting. I just felt like I should have all my ducks in a row, or horses in a circle perhaps, getting the name right and in full.

I’m not actually sure when I made the discovery that another of the important carousel manufacturers had a carousel that was quite close to me and where I live. I should have thought about it earlier, I suppose, but I just didn’t make the connection. The amusing thing about my lapse is that it is in an area where the bus company I now work for runs some of the transit routes. It might have been because of its very proximity that I didn’t think about checking it out. Such is life and the vagaries of my thought.

I do remember that after visiting the Herschell Carrousel Museum I was a little bit at a loss wondering which carousel I might visit next and when. I was thinking I might have to wait now until next year to take up the quest again, I mean it was starting to come to what I thought of as the end of the season for amusement parks and fall fairs around here. 

I had also learned a bit late that there was another carousel not too far away that I could have made a day trip to. This one happened to be manufactured by Spillman Engineering (one of the group of companies once associated with Allan Herschell) and is in Guelph, Ontario. The problem is that the carousel closed for the season on September 3^rd. As I said, maybe next year.

I did a bit more reading and research on the Internet. I learned that there was another important manufacturer of carousels called the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (no fooling) and one of their carousels (a 1928 classic wood carousel) was situated in Canada’s Wonderland, a large amusement park just north of Toronto in Vaughn, Ontario. Go figure.

My landlady and good friend Sandra actually suggested that maybe I should get in touch with the park and see if they would let me in to photograph their carousel. A couple of days later I sent off an email to Canada’s Wonderland and made the request. And another couple of days after that I received an answer from the Public Relations & Special Events Area Manager, a person named Matthew Clarke, who said that he would be pleased to allow me to photograph their carousel, in fact he would let me into the park early before it opened so that I could do it.

Is that cool or what?

It took a few weeks for us to synchronize our schedules and find a day we had in common. I had recently gotten a new position at work and for the first few months my schedule was erratic, involving mostly afternoon and late evening work. That had finally stabilized to some degree and I thought I could now try to book a meeting. Mr. Clarke was busy with things happening at the park; first a movie shoot and then a long weekend full of other events that required his attention. We communicated back and forth (I admit that I was starting to think that this shoot wouldn’t happen) until we agreed on a time and a place to meet.

It was fortunate that I had a week left of vacation coming up (I try to book off the week of my birthday if I can) and so in the middle of September, on the second day of my vacation, I got my chance to come to the park.

The weather cooperated. It had rained a bit for the preceding couple of days but that Sunday was clear although it started out a bit cool. It looked like I wouldn’t have to worry much about available gloom although some of the slanting rays of the intense morning light might add pools of washed out colour to my pictures. Still, that was part of the scene and part of the setting. You can’t get more natural than that.

I met Matt at the employee entrance to the park and he personally conducted me to the carousel. He was very pleasant to speak with and we shared some information about the ride itself and talked about the park as we made our way to it. I owe him a great deal of thanks.

I had, of course, done a bit of reading up on it so I knew that this carousel was numbered PTC#84. I also knew that some of the horses on this carousel had been carved by the same person who worked on animals of the Centreville carousel of Toronto Island that I had photographed earlier in the summer, G. A. Dentzel. I guess this is another example of things that come around in circles.

And once again I was given free rein to photograph both outside and on the platform.

And I got to ride it too.

Someone had asked me why I didn’t get my picture taken on the carousel in North Tonawanda. It just hadn’t occurred to me. Here though I asked Matt if he would take a picture of me on the carousel and he kindly consented.

And the horse said, 'Who's the big kid with the beard?

Just a little bit of information here, the horses that were produced by and for the Philadelphia Toboggan Company were known for their more natural rendition.

And there are 4 rows of wooden horses, 42 jumpers, 24 standing, and there are 2 chariots, the horses of which were by Dentzel.

The lead horse has the PTC logo on it, as does one of the chariots.

Again I love the artistry involved in the creation of these rides. I know that they may seem passé to many people now (and Matt and I touched on that subject as we talked) who are looking for the thrill and excitement of the coasters and other rides, things that go faster and higher and spin you around.

Parting shot

Me, I like the prancing ponies.