Intamins with cable lifts?

I have been wondering about Intamin coasters with cable lifts other than Millennium Force (sp?). It looks like Thunder Dolphin has to have one from the layout of the ride, and I have seen a video online that makes it look like Expedition GeForce has one. Can anyone confirm this and/or provide names of other coasters with cable lifts?

Edited for spelling and bad typing *** Edited 12/28/2003 7:45:29 PM UTC by prabe***

To my knowledge, the only coasters with cable lifts are some of the more recent Intamin hypercoaster creations. I have been able to find photographic proof for the following coasters:

Expedition GeForce (Holiday Park)
Goliath (Six Flags Holland)
Millennium Force (Cedar Point)
Thunder Dolphin (LaQua)

Also, the remainder of the Intamin hypers, the three American Superman: Ride of Steels, all, as far as I can tell, use traditional chain lifts.

-BB

I'm about 97% sure that those are the only four with cable lifts. I bet the majority of future Intamin mega's will use one though.

Thanks for the info. I hadn't noticed the cable lift on Goliath af SF Belgium. I'm inclined to agree that Intamin will use the cable lifts in the future, but I am wondering why they would use them on coasters with conventially proportioned lift hills like Expedition GeForce and Goliath. I am also wondering if there is anything preventing Intamin from using them on inverted of looping coasters. Anyone have answers or at least ideas?

Add the Intamin water coaster (Fuga da Atlantide) at Gardaland in Italy to that list as well. While the lift is only 33ft, it reportedly uses a cable lift system. From the pictures I have seen in the new First Drop, it's kind of hard to tell but upon closer examination, it does look like it has a modified cable lift system.

The cable lift system on Goliath had me a bit confused as well considering the train leaves the station via drive tires, then connects onto the bolt sled which is already on the lift. The speed of the lift increased once the train was already half way up.

Expedition GeForce on the other hand has a system very much like Millienium Force where the sled returns to the station and connects with the train there. For some reason, it seemed even quicker than MF's lift but I am not certain if that is true.

-Sean

I don't see a real problem with standard looping coasters, but I doubt you'll see one on an invert. The motor, transmission, and spool would all have to be located on the top of the track, which would make maintenance a pain in the ass. Asthetically it wouldn't be too great either.

Not true. It could be located off to the side of the lift if you've got a pully that is turned perpendicular to the lift. Who says that everything has to be contained directly in line with the lift?

The spool and drive motors could also be located on the ground behind the lift hill without any major pully action.
*** Edited 12/29/2003 6:43:20 AM UTC by Michael Darling***

I always wondered why cable lift hills allow steeper and faster ascents. Would traditional chains just get unusably bulky if that kind of load were put on them?

Chains have a poor weight to strength ratio. This restricts the amount of load tha they can take. A heavier chain increases weight faster than it's strength, this in turn reduces it's useful length. Toboggans have vertical chains but they are short and don't carry a hefty load. On larger roller coasters, a less steep lift hill is used.

Chains usually slide in a trough and have small pulleys. This is a disadvatage because at higher speeds the chain is exposed to more viberations which chains happen to be senstive to. The higher the speed, the more viberation, and thus lower reliability.

Wire rope have a very good weight to strength ratio. They are also capable of taking curves at very high speed. Top Thrill Dragster is a good example. Viberations have little effect on a cable's preformace.

Chains have a big advantage with inverted coasters. The shape of the path the chain takes with the track is basicly a long straight stretch with a arch at the top. It's the same with most coasters. On Millennium Force, there are cable guide wheels from the base of the lift to half way down the first drop where the cable drops straight down. The track is on the inside of the curve. On an inverted coaster, the track is on the outside of the curve and the pulleys would need to be on the inside of the curve. It's simple, a different design is needed for a cable lift on an inverted coaster.

http://coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=32268

Cables also have fewer moving parts, which makes daily inspection for damage easier. Fewer moving parts = less things to go wrong.

At Coastermania 2002, Sandor Kernacs said a chain on Millennium Force would have had 25,000 moving parts. Inspecting that every day for friction wear... well... no thanks :)