Multiple people injured on Six Flags El Toro coaster

Does NJ still disallow Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro from running simultaneously?

They actually changed that a few years back.

I think you are right Blackie- it may be overdue.

Colossos opened in 2001 and closed after 2016 for a 2 year replacement.

Balder (Pre-Fab #2) closed earlier this year for a $3 million dollar retracking as well, and is expected to reopen next year.

El Toro opened in 2006.

T Express (Pre-Fab #4) at Everland doesn't appear to have gone under the knife however. It was the last one built.

You really have to wonder in the current cost-cutting atmosphere whether Six is going to pony up the money to renew this ride's service life.

Blackie:

I've heard NJ is very strict, to the point of absurdity in some cases.

I mean NJ had Action Park so there is that.

It wasn't "that" many years ago. I'm getting old, but I didn't know Moses.

Considering the cost of that kind of renovation compared to the expected shelf life, it's looking like Six Flags may be better off trying something different. I'm sure purists would balk at the idea of RMC or GCI converting it into a hybrid, even if little to no changes were made to the layout. The Colossos refurb included a lot of new steel, so purists will likely be unhappy regardless. I remember the debates about El Toro being considered a wooden coaster, unfortunately. That didn't help my faith in humanity.

Just out of curiosity, in term of track design, how different is the laminated wood structure used on El Toro versus the RMC Topper Track versus Gravity Groups method for premanufactured wood track? From looking at it, to me, it seems like RMC topper track is very similar to Intamin's prefab track.

I also know that a lot of RMC Topper Track is being replaced with IBox Track, which obviously is quite different.

The Gravity Group product doesn't require bound terminated ends to bolt together. Instead, the ends have the interleaved individual planks exposed, so when you put it together, it's like folding you hands. Add glue, put the steel on, you're done. Way less expensive to install.

Walt S:

I also know that a lot of RMC Topper Track is being replaced with IBox Track, which obviously is quite different.

I didn't know that there was that much Topper Track out there Walt. Where is this happening at?

When Six Flags installed Topper Track on their coasters in the early 2010s, Georgia Cyclone, Monstre, Rattler, SFNE Cyclone received the topper track. Out of those 4, 3 were converted by RMC to use IBox Track, leaving Monstre as the last Six Flags topper track installation.

My understanding is more than half of Lightning Rod was replaced with IBox track, and I believe part of Outlaw Run has also been retrofitted, but I can't find where I saw that.

Jeff:

Instead, the ends have the interleaved individual planks exposed, so when you put it together, it's like folding you hands. Add glue, put the steel on, you're done.

Is there a clear diagram or video of this? It's great watching different ways wood coaster people try to come up with track designs to make stuff work smoother. They did a great job installing the corkscrew on Hades years ago... I wonder how that held up.

Thanks Absimilliard and Walt for the info. Other than Outlaw Run and the Rattler, I had not been on any of the other coasters when it had Topper installed. It's interesting though that a bunch were converted to IBox track over time.

Apparently RMC asked the same question I did about the Topper Track ("Why?") and came up with a similar answer ("There's no real benefit to it, and it still isn't wood track"), and so switched to their IBox, which is a simpler product. Also, take this with a shaker of salt, but my understanding is that RMC aren't particularly good at building wood track. That said, I heard that from a wood track builder, and my impression is that none of the wood track builders have *any* respect for each others' skills. So that might just be professional "shade".

I haven't seen diagrams or video of it, but as Jeff describes, the Gravity Group product is designed as a 1:1 replacement for a traditional stick-built track stack, including the required overlap between layers. So a section of the engineered track is going to install as if it were a section of stick-built track. That's the one thing I wonder about with the Skyline Titan Track, which is the transition points from the wood track to the steel. I don't see any reason why a major coaster would be built with all Titan track, when it would be simpler (and probably cheaper) to use a tubular steel product, either a round tube or something like RMC's IBox. But combining it with a mostly wood track as we're seeing with their current retrofit projects or with the Zambezi Zinger II actually makes a lot of sense for those areas where you need to keep better control over the dimensions and gauge (such as for a pinch-drive lift).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Schwarzkopf76:

Is there a clear diagram or video of this?

You can kinda see it in TGG's flyer if you zoom in. Another important distinction is that the planks are oriented vertically, instead of horizontally like conventional track, which is crazy ridged. They also cut wedges into the under-side of the track so it sits flat on the headers. They had some balsa wood props at IAAPA last year that really made the advantage obvious. The traditional laminate was easy to bend (obviously, because you can see it when a train passes over), but the new stuff is super stiff. And they get all of this with a CNC machine that can crank out the pieces. Since there's less cutting on-site, installation goes faster too. It's awesome because it's still authentically a wood track, but better.

If the Intamin track really is tens of thousands of dollars per section, in part that's because after they cut the wood, they have to fit it with those big steel caps (and I assume ship it from Europe).

It's stronger in the normal direction, but I wonder how that does with lateral forces over the long term. Because where you had all that stiffness is now technically the 'weaker' stackup of the track build. So you would think while you wouldn't develop 'potholes' or issues with the running rail surface as easily, you may run into more issues with the side/lateral running rail and the overall gauge? Do they use some type of bracketing to the ledgers?

That's a fair question, but keep in mind that forces in the vertical direction are typically 3X higher than the lateral forces.

Yes, I imagine that's the case. They can stimulate all of it with computers, and I'm sure they've thought about it. The Racer pilot clearly motivated Kings Island.

Jeff:

They can stimulate all of it with computers

Could've gone a different direction with that, but this is a family site.

Sigh...

I've gotta stop posting from my phone.