A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steellattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
Early wooden roller coaster design of the 19th century featured a single set of wheels running on top of the track, which was common in scenic railway rides. John A. Miller introduced side friction coasters and later underfriction coasters in the early 20th century, which added additional sets of wheels running along multiple sides of the track to allow for more intense ride design with sharper turns and steeper drops. The underfriction design became commonplace and continues to be used in modern roller coaster design.
This relatively quiet age of coaster design following the Great Depression was brought to an end by The Racer at Kings Island, which opened in 1972 and sparked a second "Golden Age" of wooden coaster design.[citation needed] After their success with the Racer at Kings Island, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) constructed another 9 roller coasters over the next decade. About half were small family coasters, two were racing coasters[definition needed] similar to the Racer, and two were out and back coasters with custom designs. One of these, Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags St. Louis, was the last coaster designed by John Allen before his retirement. After these coasters, PTC stopped producing roller coasters, but continues to produce wooden roller coaster trains as Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters. Their distinctive rectangular cars are widely used on wooden coasters around the world.
A notable non-PTC coaster built during this time was The Beast at Kings Island. After John Allen refused to design the coaster in lieu of retirement, Kings Island built the coaster themselves, with the coaster designed by Al Collins and Jeff Gramke and construction overseen by Charlie Dinn. Rather than a typical out and back layout, the coaster sprawled over the woods at the back of the park, using the terrain to create an elevation change from lowest to highest point of 201 feet, even though the coaster was only 118 feet tall.[3] The coaster also had two lift hills which, while common for mine train coasters at the time, was uncommon for wooden coasters. Opening in 1979, the coaster was, and still is, the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,361 feet. Another significant wooden coaster of this era was the racing American Eagle at (now) Six Flags Great America, built by Intamin in 1981, which still holds the records for racing wooden coasters of height (127 ft), length (4650 ft), speed (66 mph), and drop (147 ft).
After the surge in the 1970s, wooden coasters construction became stagnant due to the steel roller coaster being much more popular. Most original coasters during this time were designed by William Cobb, such as Monstre at La Ronde. Another trend during the 1980s was relocating old wooden coasters in danger of being destroyed. Charlie Dinn, who formed Dinn Corporation after leaving Kings Island in 1984, oversaw some of these relocations, including the relocation of The Rocket from Playland Park to Knoebels Amusement Resort in Pennsylvania. It now operates as the Phoenix and is ranked highly on wooden coaster polls.
In 1988, Charlie Dinn started a partnership with Curtis D. Summers to design and build new wooden coasters. Between 1988 and 1991, they designed and built ten new wooden coasters. While most were of typical wooden coaster size, a few set coaster records. Hercules at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, built in 1989, had the tallest wooden coaster drop at 150 feet. Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas and Mean Streak at Cedar Point were large wooden coasters with similar layouts, with the later opening as the tallest wooden coaster in the world at 161 feet. After a dispute during construction of Pegasus at Efteling, Dinn Corporation closed down and the partnership ended.
CCI's coaster designs included both out and back layouts like Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach as well as more twisted layouts like Megafobia at Oakwood Theme Park. Megafobia was also the company's first coaster outside the United States. CCI coasters were also unique at the time for sometimes featuring angle iron support structures rather than wooden beams (the track remains the same as other wooden coasters). Most CCI coasters ran Philadelphia Toboggan Company trains, although some, like The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis, run trains from the German manufacturer Gerstlauer.
In 2002, Custom Coasters declared bankruptcy while building the New Mexico Rattler at Cliff's Amusement Park. The company left a significant legacy on the coaster industry. The high number of wooden coasters they constructed, 34 over their decade of operation, helped to rekindle interest in the wooden roller coasters and allowed modern wooden coaster designers to thrive. Designers from CCI went on to form modern wooden coaster design firms, like Great Coasters International, The Gravity Group, and the wooden coaster department at S&S Worldwide. Many of their coasters rank highly in wooden coaster polls, including Shivering Timbers at Michigan's Adventure and Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce. In 2013, Boulder Dash was rated the number one wooden roller coaster in the world by Amusement Today.
21st century
Great Coasters International (GCI) was formed in 1994 by Mike Boodley and Clair Hain, Jr, the former of whom was a designer at Custom Coasters prior to GCI. The first coaster was Wildcat at Hersheypark which opened in 1996. Since then, they have become one of the major wooden coaster designers in the industry, with award-winning coasters like Lightning Racer at Hersheypark and Thunderhead at Dollywood. GCI's coasters feature highly twisted layouts with many crossovers, and usually use GCI's own wooden coaster trains called Millennium Flyers. Their designs are inspired by coasters from the 1920s, specifically those by Fred Church and Harry Traver, and the company focuses on making the structures of their coasters aesthetically appealing and artistic.
In 2001, Swiss steel coaster designer Intamin began producing wooden roller coasters using prefabricated track. Their wooden coasters are known for large amounts of airtime (including ejector airtime), smooth ride experiences, and steep drops. T Express in Everland is currently the tallest wooden coaster in the world at 183 feet tall. While only having built 4 wooden coasters, all are praised by coaster enthusiasts, with all 4 being within the top 20 wooden coasters in the world on Mitch Hawkers poll. Since 2010, El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure, which opened in 2006, has been ranked the number one wooden coaster in the world on Mitch Hawkers poll.
Notable designers from the former Custom Coasters International formed The Gravity Group and in 2005 opened Hades (now Hades 360) at Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park. The coaster features highly unique elements, including an airtime filled pre-lift section, an 800-foot tunnel underneath a parking lot, and a 90 degree banked turn. In 2006, The Gravity Group built The Voyage at Holiday World, a large wooden coaster which stands 163 feet tall, has over 6,442 feet of track, three 90 degree banked turns, and has been ranked the number one wooden coaster in the world by Amusement Today five times. Many of the Gravity Group's coasters are highly unique and custom built for the park, such as Twister at Gröna Lund, which has a highly compact layout to fit in the parks small footprint. Their coasters have become very popular in China, in which 12 coasters have been built since 2009.
Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) has recently been revolutionizing the modern wooden coaster. In 2011, they renovated the Texas Giant, which had become very rough and hard to maintain, into a steel roller coaster. This treatment became popular and was later applied to other aging roller coasters such as Iron Rattler and Twisted Colossus. In addition, RMC designs and builds their own original wooden coasters. In 2016, the company opened the world's first launched wooden roller coaster, Lightning Rod which opened at Dollywood in 2016, and until 2024 featured a magnetic launch of 45 mph up a 200' hill, similar to the magnetic lift on Maverick.
First inverting wooden coasters
From 2000 to 2006, Son of Beast had a steel vertical loop (center)
In 2000, Kings Island opened Son of Beast. Designed by Werner Stengel and built by the Roller Coaster Corporation of America, the roller coaster broke many world records. With a height of 218 feet (66 m), it was the first wooden roller coaster to top 200 feet (61 m).[4] It was also the first modern wooden roller coaster to feature an inversion, a 90-foot (27 m) vertical loop, which was made of steel.[5] The ride was well-received but was plagued by a number of incidents, including two that were serious, eventually leading to its demise in 2012.[6][7][8]
In the 2010s, a new era of wooden roller coasters came about with the introduction of Topper Track developed by Rocky Mountain Construction. The new technology replaced the flattened steel strip and upper two layers of wood traditionally used in wooden track design with a steel box,[9] which led to rides like the triple-inverting Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City in 2012.[10][11] Others like Wildfire at Kolmården Wildlife Park and Goliath at Six Flags Great America soon followed.[12][13] Topper Track provides the added benefit of smoother rides and lower maintenance costs.[citation needed]
The common choice of wood selected for modern wooden roller coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine,[19] a softwood abundant in the southern United States from eastern Texas to Virginia.[20] It is known for its strength, which comes from its extremely dense properties.[19] Southern pine is also easy to cut and responds well to pressure treatment.[19]
Prefabricated track
Companies like Intamin and Rocky Mountain Construction began using prefabricated track in the 2010s. The design borrows the principles of steel coaster manufacturing and applies them to wood.
Traditional wooden coaster track is typically built on site. It is cut as needed, bent to the proper shape, and mounted layer-by-layer to the support structure with steel running plates. Prefabricated track, on the other hand, is manufactured in a factory, temperature-controlled setting. It is made of many thin layers of wood that are glued together and then laser cut to exact specifications. The track is made in 25-foot (7.6 m) sections, which have special joints on the ends to allow them to snap together. The result is generally higher precision than what could be achieved by hand, leading to a smoother ride and reduced cost surrounding construction and maintenance. In addition, unlike traditional wooden coasters which feature bare metal wheels, the trains for a prefabricated wooden coaster have wheels made of polyurethane treads, similar to a steel coaster.
Wooden versus steel
Wooden roller coasters provide a very different ride and experience from steel roller coasters. While they are traditionally less capable than a steel coaster when it comes to inversions and elements (except for the chain lift hill), wooden coasters instead rely on an often rougher and more "wild" ride (depending on train speed and/or track layout), as well as a more psychological approach to inducing fear. Their 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, since wooden roller coaster supports and track systems are designed to sway with the force produced by the coaster. If the track and structure were too rigid, they would break under the strain of the passing train. The swaying of the track reduces the maximum force applied, 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 (or "guide") wheel (to guide motion in the lateral plane and reduce excessive 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 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 brake operator to control the speed so that upstop wheels are not necessary. A handful of wooden coasters use flanged wheels, similar to a rail car, eliminating the need for side friction wheels.
The grounds of the ride are densely forested, with the intended thrills heightened from the illusion of inadequate clearance between the track and trees. Layout based on Cincinnati Coney Island Wildcat.
Located in Santa Cruz, California, it is among the last original oceanfront roller coasters still operating on the West Coast. It is protected under the National Register of Historic Places.
Wooden roller coaster built to the plans of Ervin Dragon, is 17 m (55.8 ft) in height and travels 980 m (3,215 ft) in five minutes. It is one of the few remaining side friction roller coasters in the world, and is an ACE Coaster Classic,[42] It has not been operational since 2015.
When it opened, it was the fastest roller coaster in the world (the title was taken by The Giant Dipper in 1924). In 1985 The Jack Rabbit became the oldest continuously operating coaster in the U.S. with the temporary closing of Leap-The-Dips.
Built by Custom Coasters International (CCI) in 1996. The coaster features a twister style layout. Megafobia was the first white-knuckle attraction to be installed at the Oakwood Theme Park (then Oakwood Leisure Park) in West Wales.
When built it was the only wooden roller coaster to feature inversions, including a double barrel roll and an over-banked turn, and also was the steepest wooden coaster in the world with an 81 degree drop (since broken by Switchback at ZDT’s Amusement Park with an 87 degree drop).
Racing roller coaster, featuring two individual tracks that parallel each other. From 1993 to 2007 the Racer 75 had one side of the tracks traveling forwards and one side traveling backwards.
The oldest wooden coaster in Britain and the 3rd oldest in the world. In 2002 the ride became a Grade II listed building – the first UK amusement park attraction to achieve this status. It closed in 2006 and 25% of it was damaged by fire on 7 April 2008, however, it was fully restored and reopened to the public in 2015.
At the time of its opening, was the world's tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster, and the only wooden coaster to have an inversion, before that element was removed in 2007. It closed in 2009 and was demolished in 2012.
A roller coaster requiring a brakeman to ride the train, and the last built roller coaster in the world to use side friction technology. It is also an ACE Coaster Classic.
The second oldest extant roller coaster in America formerly at Libertyland, Memphis, Tennessee from 1923 to 2005.[73] It was Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster, and he rode the Zippin Pippin eight days before he died.
