Coasters temp?

Does anyony know the temperature at which roller coasters can operate? I saw somewhere that at PKI, the temp has to be 50 to 55 degrees in order for the coasters to run. Does any know?

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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.

I don't know... Millennium Force has operated at or below freezing. Granted, they had heaters under the stations to keep the wheels warm, but they did run it!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

A coaster can operate at any temperature as long as you stay above the temps at which the steel starts to get brittle. This generally means any temperature much above 0F. More than one poster here has reported riding in the snow.

The limiting factor usually is the lubrication of the bearings. The grease thickens up as temperatures drop. This increases the friction and can slow the coaster too much. If you want to operate in really cold weather, you have to relubricate with lower viscosity grease. I don't know of any parks that do this since if it's that cold very few people will want to ride.

There was a coaster get together at Lakemont in fall 2000 when it was very cold. At times the coasters had to be pushed to get around because the grease had thickened up so much.

you might want to read the opening day at PKI thread.

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