How to build a wooden rollercoaster?

I own a lot of land here in Indiana, and was wanting to "toy" around with the expensive idea of building my own "Rollercoaster".

A long time ago I visited a website that pretty much had all the design information like pictures and stuff on it, it even had construction photos of some wooden rollercoaster at Kennywood or one of those parks in that area.

I know that wont tell me everything I need to know, but it was still a pretty cool site.

Does anyone here have a link to it or to other sites where I can pull Information on building my own rollercoaster? I mainly would love to have a better understanding of how the bend wood and steel running plates, etc.

Thanks a lot guys!

Landon

Do you have the prints already drawn for it, do you now the stats for it. Also when you finish I would like to see pics. The only think I can think of is google it.

I have also thought about doing that at my house but since I am only 15 and still live at my parents and they laugh every time I propose this same idea, but their is this guy named Jermey Reid or something I think you can find his site by going to google and typing in backyard roller coaster or backyard coaster and his site should come up.

^ Oklahoma Land Run

P.S. Closer to home for you, Blue Flash is STEEL not wood, but certainly it might be helpful for you to know about any regulations that could be specific to building this kind of thing in Indiana...

http://www.negative-g.com/BlueFlash/February2002/Blue-Flash-2002-2-1.html

*** Edited 4/8/2007 5:52:01 PM UTC by rollergator***

Here's a full photo report of the construction of Hercules at Dorny Park - http://www.coasterquest.com/const01.htm
That should show you how much is involved with it all.

It'd take a load of work to build and maintain a wooden coaster though. Think of all the concrete and laminating the wood, and fixing it up constantly, and keeping the rails from rusting ect... You could probably build something, but it would be tough, and keeping it going would be a pain. *** Edited 4/9/2007 1:04:03 AM UTC by SuperSteve***

I built Superman Ride of Wood in my backyard a few years ago. It's small but it works :)

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/352522860RvOGFp?track_pagetag=/page/photo/goodtimes/summerfun&track_action=/MediaInfo/AlbumTitle

^ Cool! A side friction coaster. If you're not careful, you'll give Lakemont a run for their money. ;)

It looks like you didn't bend any track, just connected 2 x 4's at an angle. If so, I bet those transitions (for lack of a better word?) were rather harsh, even at that low speed.

What did you use for the car?

The pictures on webshots are actually pretty old and the ride has been updated since then. The transition is MUCH MUCH MUCH better as I've added layers of wood on the hill and it's extremely smooth.

The car itself I built out of wood and it has heldup extremely well. Each spring I repaint it and I'm reconfiguring the lapbar yet again sometime this week.

I'm trying to use a garage door opener to make a spring-based launching mechanism (it's hard to explain) and I think it'll work I'm just trying to decide if I want to spend the money.

Either way I'll try to get some updated pics once I get the car back on the track within the next month. When the kids ride it I always push it as fast as it will go and they get some good ejector air at the top of the hill :)

Hey Craig! New credit at Ride of Steel's house! ;)

It's very 'spensive and a LOT of work.

Expect a few concussions from falling hammers, too.

Who remembers this?

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v299/exitenglish/Elijahs%20Chariot/

-Josh