Wooden roller coaster

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The Texas Giant. A large wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, TX
The Texas Giant. A large wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, TX

A wooden roller coaster or woodie is most often classified as a roller coaster with laminated steel running rails overlayed upon a wooden track. Occasionally, the structure may be made out of a steel lattice or truss, but the ride remains classified as a wooden roller coaster due to the track design. Due to the limits of wood, wooden roller coasters in general do not have inversions (when the coaster goes upside down), steep drops, or extremely banked turns (overbanked turns). However, there are exceptions; Son of Beast has a 208 foot high drop and originally had a 90 foot tall loop until the end of the 2006 season, although the loop has metal supports. Other special cases are Hades at Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, featuring a double-track tunnel and a 90 degree banked turn, The Voyage at Holiday World (an example of a wooden roller coaster with a steel structure for supports) featuring three separate 90 degree banked turns, and El Toro with a 76 degree drop.

The coaster shown at right is the Texas Giant at Six Flags over Texas. It is consistently rated by coaster enthusiasts as one of the best wooden roller coasters in the world. Designed by Curtis Summers, the ride opened in 1990.

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[edit] Wooden versus steel

Wooden roller coasters provide a very different ride and experience from steel roller coasters. While they are technically less capable than a steel coaster when it comes to inversions and elements, wooden coasters instead rely on an often rougher and more "wild" ride as well as a more psychological approach to inducing fear. Their shaky structures and track, which usually move anywhere from a few inches to a few feet with a passing train, give a sense of unreliability and the "threat" of collapse or disregard for safety. Of course, this assumption is purely mental and wooden roller coaster supports and track systems are designed to sway with the force. If the track and structure are too rigid, they will break under the strain of the passing train. The swaying of the track suppresses the force, like a shock absorber.

Like steel roller coasters, wooden roller coasters usually use the same three-wheel design, pioneered by John Miller. Each set of wheels includes a running wheel (on top of the track), a side friction wheel (to reduce side to side movement known as "hunting") and an upstop wheel (beneath the track to prevent cars from flying off the track). Some wooden coasters, such as Leap-The-Dips, do not have upstop wheels, and are therefore known as side friction roller coasters. As a result, the turns and drops are more gentle than on modern wooden roller coasters. Scenic Railway roller coasters also lack upstop wheels, but rely on a brakeman to control the speed.

The debate rages as to which type of coaster is better; wood or steel. This is unlikely to ever be settled, however, because each category distinguishes itself from the other in a number of ways, in addition to also providing a substantially different and unique ride.

[edit] Decline and revival

Once a staple in virtually every amusement park in America, wooden roller coasters appear to be on a slow decline in popularity for a number of reasons. First of all, amusement parks clearly see the cost benefits of building a steel roller coaster from the start. Steel roller coasters, while requiring a larger initial down payment for the ride at the beginning, cost much less in ongoing maintenance fees throughout the years of operation. Wooden roller coasters, on the other hand, require large amounts of devoted funds annually to keep the ride in operating condition including regular re-tracking, track lubrication, and support maintenance.

Wooden coasters are also becoming less marketable in today's media-driven advertising world. Superlative advertising in which the "biggest", "tallest", or "fastest" ride is what brings in crowds often cannot apply to new wooden roller coasters, especially since a large majority of record-holding rides are steel. Amusement parks are always looking to add attractions which can be presented in commercials and ads as incredibly tall, fast, or extreme; thus discounting many wooden roller coasters (as past events indicate, bigger is not always better in terms of wooden roller coasters).

However, it appears that wooden roller coasters may be experiencing a revival. In 2006, a trio of giant wooden coasters opened in the United States. The three rides are the Kentucky Rumbler, The Voyage at Holiday World, and El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure. Whether or not this trend will continue is unseen, yet it does indicate that amusement parks continue to show interest in wooden roller coasters.

[edit] Prefabricated track

One of the most significant recent developments in wooden coaster design is Intamin AG's use of prefabricated track. This design essentially applies the principles of steel coaster manufacturing to wood.

Traditional wooden coaster track is built on-site. It is nailed layer-by-layer to the support structure, then it is smoothed to the proper shape and steel running plates are mounted on top. Prefabricated track, on the other hand, is manufactured in a factory. It is made of many thin layers of wood that are glued together and then laser cut to the exact shape needed. The track is made in 25 foot sections which have special joints on the ends that allow them to snap together like Lego pieces. This process allows for far higher precision than could ever be achieved by hand. In addition, the trains for a prefabricated wooden coaster have wheels with polyurethane tires, just like a steel coaster. In contrast, traditional wooden coaster trains have bare metal wheels.

This design results in a ride that is nearly as smooth as the smoothest of steel coasters, and much smoother than any traditional wooden coaster. However, some coaster enthusiasts may find this smoothness to detract from the experience, as it would not have the same character as a traditional wooden coaster. Despite this, all three existing prefabricated wooden coasters are consistently rated among the best wooden coasters in the world.

Prefabricated wooden coasters also benefit from faster construction and reduced maintenance compared to a traditional wooden coaster. The track is simply bolted to the structure, which takes an insignificant amount of time compared to actually building the track. The track also stays smooth much longer than traditional track, which becomes rough rather quickly and eventually must be replaced.

[edit] Examples of wooden roller coasters

[edit] External links

  • Planked.com Guide to some active wood roller coaster installations in the United States.
  • History of Roller Coasters at Ultimate Rollercoaster.com, series on roller coaster history includes photos and historical information about wooden roller coasters.
  • Pictures of the Scenic Railway at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, showing the brakeman and the inner workings of the ride.

[edit] See also

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