Coasters that leave the track?

CedarPointNut said:
What if there was a trough (sorta like a bobsled-type track) on the other side and the train landed on that an ran on that for a while until it centered and hooked to the regular track again. About the removal of upstop wheels, you could just make them retractable so they retract when the leave the track, open on the trough, and then close again on the real track. It could happen!...
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Did you fill out the Coasterbuzz survey?

That would have to be some strong track, wheels, and supports. Most trains weigh like 20,000 pounds.

It will never happen, there will always be something to hold it onto the track. If you put the part of the coaster without track on the top of the hill, there is too much of a change it could valley there and have some or all of the train go off.

And if you make it too small than it will go flying like in RCT. This is exactly what g-forces is all about. Sometimes on a coaster you feel little airtime on a hill, but than you go again with a different set of people on the train. The train now weighs different and you could get high airtime on the same hill. You would only be able to vary the weight of the train so much, and its not like they are going to put scales int he station.

There will always be something connectiong the train to the track.

Actually, some rides can weigh the trains to determine the exact power needed to launch. An example is California Screamin' which weighs the trains as they prepare to take the initial LSM lauch.

Even so, there is no future (nor any past!) for coasters that leave the track.

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!

Buzzsaw Falls at Silver Dollar City does this! kinda :) Although it's coaster/ flume ride. It disconnects from it's running rails a floats in the trough then it reconnects to the track for the coaster part. Just like the water coaster in RCT! I know it's not what you mean but it does leave it's track.

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Visits to Knoebels in 2002: 9

CoasterFanMatt-I'm saying that the weight would have to be very specific, not just weighed to measure the launch. With the launch, it doesn't matter, just pump up the amount of launch or lower it depending on the weight. Whereas on this type of ride if you don't have a certain amount of weight you would be screwed.

coasterpunk said:
Buzzsaw Falls at Silver Dollar City does this! kinda Although it's coaster/ flume ride. It disconnects from it's running rails a floats in the trough then it reconnects to the track for the coaster part.

Can something about actually reading through the thread before replying be added to the TOS? ;)

With all due respect, coasterpunk, you're replying with info that's already been discussed in this thread. The fact that coasters such as Buzzsaw Falls that leave the track and thread back on (Journey to Atlantis at Sea World Orlando does too) already exist is why some of us find it possible to create a sort of hybrid coaster between a sit down and an inverted. But thanks for saying it again, I guess. ;)

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 16

*** This post was edited by Lord Gonchar on 8/30/2002. ***

Well jdancisin, I suppose that my question led to a really good discussion regardless of my age. Frankly, I don't know what age has to do with it. I personally won't discount any idea as "not possible" or "impossible" because it is silly to do so. Coaster designers were known to have said, not so long ago, that coasters could never breach 200 and 300 ft hights... WRONG!

A few years ago there was a Coke ad on TV that featured a radical futuristic coaster that started off as a Sit-Down/Floorless. After some serving & the like, it ran over rushing water & the passengers screamed as the track below their feet vanished. Of course it ran onto overhead track at that point & became an Inverted. The finale was shooting out of a giant Coke bottle a la Volcano. Obviously this wasn't possible without CGI. ;) Really awesome to watch, I'd give my right arm & leg to ride it! :) I got it on tape somewhere...

Fright Time has pics of that Kamikaze jumping coaster. Unfortunately it's down at the moment.

Taipan I recall a commercial like that. I'm not sure if I'm thinking of the same one.

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-Sean

okay, Lord Gonchar, I got it. You have somebody sitting by the track and when the train flies off, he presses a button and the upstop fold in. then, when the train hooks back on, he presses the button again...then he does that again when the next train comes...plus the trough has a lot of slack where it's like 20 ft wide and pretty much under the track...

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Cedar Point: America's Rockin' Roller Coast!

Ok, CPN. But how are the upstop wheels wired to the "button" that the op sitting there uses?

Just making you think. ;)

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 16

I'm surprised no one else has posted this ... Kennywood's Jackrabbit does leave the track for a short period of time on the double-dip. It's not much, but it is a popular and year-after-year determined safe coaster that does leave its tracks for a short time. I know its not exactly what you guys were talking about, but just wanted to throw that out there.

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1. Kumba 2. Millie 3. Mantis 4. Lightning Racer/Wildcat (Hershey) 5. Thunderbolt (KP)
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

PittDesigner - Jackrabbit's trains have upstops...it is impossible for the train to leave the track.

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"Three simple words: I am gay." - Homer Simpson, giving advice on how to dump a girl.

How about a variation on the 'Tilt' coaster. Build a train-length section of track mounted on a swing-arm that moves from one side of the gap to the other. The train rushes toward a gap in the track and just before plunging toward death the safety lock grabs the train and transfers its momentum to the swinging section of track. Next the train and swinging section of track are flung across the gap and the safety lock releases as the swing-track(tm) slams into the other side allowing the train to continue on. Granted the train never leaves the track but is does manage to 'jump' across a 'missing' section of track. The whole process shouldn't take any longer to develop and get working smoothly and reliably than Deja Vu or X.

RubberDucky said:

It will never happen, there will always be something to hold it onto the track.
RD, I've been around too long to say something like that.....technology is an AMZAING thing, and anytime someone says "never", someone else says "why not".....human beings, creativity, we're a "matched set"...
bill, hearkening to the SFA thread and the tennis terms...
edit: finally, for my "regal" friend Lord G., in re: to the "button" for retracting the upstops...the radio antenna/receiver would definitely make you think of Robot Wars

*** This post was edited by rollergator on 8/30/2002. ***

By the way, Dueling Dragons weigh the trains to make them "duel" more closely. Although, the weight is only one factor. There is speed, wind resistance, height, etc. What if the coaster comes off the track and starts to spin a little. Maybe it would spin so much that you would end up doing the rest of the ride backward.

*** This post was edited by Terry Cruise on 8/30/2002. ***

You know, Bill - the British version of Robot Wars was so much better than the spinoff here in the USA. I always make a point to mention this whenever the show comes up. For some reason our PBS station in Jacksonville began showing the UK version about 2 or 3 years before the US version debuted. Just a much more entertaining show overall - I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

As far as a radio controlled system, I'm sure it'd be fine but it seems so unsafe to me. I've watched Robot Wars and all the cheap ripoff shows and I can't even begin to count how many times someone lost due to something as simple as losing control of their bot. I'd hate to be soaring through the air on the newest coaster to jump the track and look to the side to see a ride-op frantically pushing at a remote control and looking around like "What the hell do I do?". I just have the image of the pimply faced kid on the Simpsons with the cracking voice - "Uhh, Mr. Johnson the button's not working again"

Yikes!

Also easier to fail that way - interference would be a problem. Also what if some underhanded individual got on the same frequency and intentionally messed with operations of the coaster?

Yikes again!

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 16

I wonder if this came about due to a little game I saw my kid playing on the PC. You had to manuever a little roller coaster train around a track that had gaps in it, so you had to "jump" the train over the gaps.

Personally, some of my weirdest dreams about coasters have been the ones where we are riding along and the train flies off the track. I don't think I'd ride one.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

Okay. Why do you have to use the traditional configuration of wheels and use retractable upstops???

It seems to me, the way is to have the three wheels run on the outsides of their fixtures, and have three running rains on the outsides of the wheels. When the coaster jumps the track, have two large funnel like pieces on the sides of the cars to funnel the wheel fixtures back into place on the three rails.

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There are other problems. How do you keep one or more of the cars from rotating in flight? The lead car will encounter more air resistance than those following and will decelerate faster.

Try tossing a stick without putting any spin on it and it see how straight it travels. Now try tossing a chain in a straight line and you've better simulated a coaster train without a track.

So you have all the problems of controlled flight (pitch, yaw, roll) compounded by multiple occurances (individual cars with different weights and resistances) linked together.

LG, yes, I can imagine looking over and seeing the kid *mashing* the button frantically.....in super-slo-mo....ok, maybe that's NOT the best method...reminiscent of the slingshot experience, I've never had two seconds LST so long in my life.....next idea....