Nemesis (original)

The visitor to Alton Towers in 1994 found a most unusual British achievement waiting in Staffordshire. Planning rules kept the ride below the treetops, so the engineers went down instead, cutting a pit into the rock and setting the steel close to the ground where the footpaths and queue could look upon its passage. towerstimes.co.uk· towersstreet.com

Bolliger & Mabillard supplied the inverted coaster, and the finished work gave Europe its first example of the type. It was not a tall monument, at 13 metres, yet it made its drama from the valley it occupied, reaching 81 km/h and turning its passengers through four inversions among the blasted stone. en.wikipedia.org· de.wikipedia.org

John Wardley later described a design that owed its force to surprise and terrain, not mere height. The ride was arranged so that watchers as well as passengers could share in the spectacle, with parts of the course set near eye level and the queue winding close to the track. theguardian.com· en.wikipedia.org

Its original service ended after the 2022 season. Alton Towers announced that Nemesis had closed on 6 November 2022 and would return in 2024 after a major transformation; later accounts described the replacement of much of the track and many supports before the ride reopened as Nemesis Reborn. altontowers.com· towerstimes.co.uk