Alpengeist

I was just looking at pics of Alpengeist and other than noticing that it looks like an incredible ride, I noticed that it appears as if the front car is missing. Why is there a car on the train but no seats? Are there other B&Ms like this?

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One Love

I am wondering that too it seems like It is the only Inverted with a "0" car on the front of the train. I have no clue.

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Chris Knight
I can't decide is it BGW or SDC/CC.
Coming to WOF in 2003: A New Dippin' Dots stall :-)

Hmmmm...

I thought it might be theme related, but after looking at some photos again, I really have no clue. I will say that it's possibly my favorite coaster (beating out some great steel like Millie & Raging Bull). I love almost everything about it, even the "snow trench" ending, which many feel is lackluster. Alpengeist is a spectacular ride, especially in the front seat.

I imagine it was a difficult coaster to design due to the terrain, so perhaps they had to remove one of the cars after testing to reduce the intensity / g-forces...

just speculation...

That's strange. It does have a "0" car though as Sawblade5 said.

I think it is a weight to help balence the train or make it go faster. I have no proof of this other then the fact that it seems Alpengeist seems to come off of its trim quite fast at the top of the hill. Also, while I know it is not an inverted, Kumba, also has a zero car on it.

Top 5 Steels: Alpengeist, Magnum, Millenium, Raptor, X-Flight

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I don't care what anyone says, Magnum is better then Millenium Force.

Yes Alpie is an awesome ride! I think that maybe the 0 car is so that the train enters the inversions and turns more smoothly because thats the first "car" through, I'm not sure though

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I think the propose of the front or "0" car is much the same as a bullet-nose on a stand-up, sit-down, or speed B&M. The nose breaks the wind for aerodynamic purposes and adds a little extra weight for momentum (I might of spelled that wrong). The question I would have to ask is why Alpengeist is the only B&M Invert with this feature. One possible reason: it's the tallest B&M Invert and it does have a custom layout but that's only a guess.

1) Alpengeist has run without seats attatched to the zero car from day one. This car was never used for additional seating, nor was it ever intended to.

2) All other inverted trains have a front "nose car" like on the sitdown, stand-up, and speed-coaster trains. There just happens to be seats attached to it (floorless trains have this as well). The first two rows on these other inverted coasters can only roll in relation to each other (no pitch or yaw as all of the other rows can do in relation to each other). This Raptor photo shows how the first two rows haven't "spread apart" as all of the others have.

3) It has been long speculated, and since confirmed by the fellows at B&M, that this zero car was added to reduce stress on the train and riders. Any future inverted coasters reaching similar sizes as Alpengeist (or even bigger) will feature this design.

As to how exactly this reduces stress...that's a question someone else is going to have to answer :)

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James Draeger
-Captain Sarcasm (aka Sour Boy)
*** This post was edited by Draegs 2/20/2003 10:02:37 AM ***

That's interesting, Draegs. Makes sense, I suppose.

I had never really noticed that Alpengeist is the only B&M inverted coaster with a 'zero' car. My head seems to notice it, though, every time I walk under it to take a front seat *clunk*.

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-Vater
Take a ride...

A seatless-car like that is usually used to stabalize the train and reduce stress.

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Dutch Coastin' :: European coasters, thrills and theming!