Kennywood announces launched steel coaster for 2010

I have an unhealthy affection for Toboggans. They're just so quirky and cool. Painful, yes, but so much fun.

Facebook photo rotate fail.

Local news says we can expect the ride open for opening day.

^ Where'd you hear that? The only thing I could find was this story from WPXI saying that it was expected to be complete next month. It doesn't give a date, nor does it actually say anything new. They basically just copy and pasted the press release from last August. I couldn't find anything on KDKA or WTAE.

Although the WPXI story does link to some new pictures from the construction site.

It was a 60 second story on the morning news.

eightdotthree said:
Local news says we can expect the ride open for opening day.

You can expect to be dissapointed with that prediction...

I figured as much. The circuit looked close to complete though.

I'd estimate about 25% of the supports and 15% of the track is up. It's just that it's all concentrated in one area, so it's easy to do a deceptive shoot and make it seem like it's further along than it is.

So KPConnection put up another update yesterday and more or less, almost nothing has happened since last week. The park did got some more track though, including the first hill. At the crest of the hill, or just over it, is a piece of track that is clearly designed to house some form of braking system. Does anyone here have any idea as to what is going there? The layout diagram has a "Cliffhanger element" there. Are we looking at a holding brake along the lines of B&M Dive machines or Intamin Impulses, or a trim like on the Thunderbolt across the park. And are we looking at something magnetic or pneumatic?

And for what its worth, the diagram also has a cliffhanger element coming of the MCBR as well. But S28 consists of the entire MCBR. S27 is clearly leading into it (and the end of the spine), and S29 is just as clearly the drop off of the MCBR, but lacks any type of brakes brackets.

Also, how do the brakes work on other LSM coasters? From what I can tell, Maverick uses the same magnets under the train for the launching and braking, and then uses the tires to move the train. But how do they actually stop the train in the station? Does it simply rest on the tires, or is there some other mechanism?

I thought Maverick was tire driven between the final break run all the way through just before the lift hill and between the MCBR and the tunnel launch.

It's just a magnet on the first drop. You won't come to a stop.