Nemesis (original)
J2 · Defunct But Not Forgotten
J2 · № 140/150
Nemesis (original)
Alton Towers · GB · Bolliger & Mabillard Inverted Coaster
“Alton cut the rock deep, and Europe rode beneath the trees.”
UNOFFICIAL · NOT PARK-ENDORSED
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No licence-clean photograph of Nemesis (original) has crossed our desk yet, so the card runs house illustration for now — a placeholder, not a stand-in for the real ride. Send us your shot of it (structure-first, no park logos or mascots in frame) and if it's the one, your name goes on the card — permanent, printed, yours.
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Fast facts
- Opened in 1994 at Alton Towers as Europe’s first inverted roller coaster. towerstimes.co.uk
- Was a steel Inverted Coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard. de.wikipedia.org
- Stood 13 metres tall. en.wikipedia.org
- Reached 81 km/h. en.wikipedia.org
- Carried riders through four inversions. en.wikipedia.org
- Had a stated capacity of 1,400 riders per hour. de.wikipedia.org
- The original ride closed on 6 November 2022 for refurbishment and track replacement. altontowers.com
The story of 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
Sources
- towerstimes.co.uk Acceptable source
- de.wikipedia.org Acceptable source
- en.wikipedia.org Acceptable source
- altontowers.com Preferred source
- towersstreet.com Acceptable source
- theguardian.com Acceptable source
This background is AI-drafted from public sources and human-reviewed before publishing — approved 20 August 2026.