New Jack-Rabbit Brakes

Yes!!!  For the 2002 season at Kennywood Park, the historic Jack-Rabbit roller coaster will receive a major renovation.  They will get an automatic magnetic braking system.  The man/woman powered friction brakes will be no more.  I think that they will still be under their ACE coaster classic status.  For more pics, click here and scroll down the page to the Behind the Scenes.  What do yunz think?:)
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Kennywood is my home park!!!

no biggie, it really won't affect the rides performance. Plus I never cared for the ACE classic status as it is way too strict and most of them really are not good rides.

The Coaster Classic guidelines say nothing about braking systems, only about the trains: no headrests, no seat dividers, single lapbar, and no assigned seating (which may bring up concerns after my last few visits to KW this year).

Why do I think that Jackrabbit isn't the only KW coaster getting new brakes for 2002 :)

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Scott W. Short
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

May I add Phantom's Revenge anyone???;)
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Kennywood is my home park!!!

Actually KWFAN, I do not believe that as it was this year that JackRabbit was an ACE Classic. It's not listed on the ACE website. Like STim alluded to, I belive it was excluded because you cant choose your seat.

Again, I feel that system is unnecessarily arbitrary.
lata,
jeremy
--if it quacks like a duck...

So they're finally going to do it for next year...

Jack Rabbit was supposed to get new magnetic trim brakes for 2001 (not new trims, mind you...to replace the existing weight-driven approach trim in the tunnel uptrack of the station) but other activities apparently prevented that from happening. Although the ride did get a new block control system and a variable speed lift motor. Looks like now Jack Rabbit is well on its way to becoming the most up-to-date coaster in the park!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The photos of the station brakes show friction brakes, not magnetic brakes. Magnets wouldn't hold the train on an incline.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.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"

True.

Have a look at www.magnetarcorp.com where the front page shows a photo of the magnetic brakes used on the IdleWild Mouse.

Magnetar uses the same brake fin for both magnetic and friction braking. On Jack Rabbit the plan is to use magnetic brakes for the station approach trim (what is now a weight-set skid brake) and friction brakes for the two station locations.

Obviously Kennywood is impressed with the magnetic brakes 'cause as of next season they will have them on no less than three rides. A ride on their Mouse is a pretty convincing argument as you can readily feel the difference between the magnetic braking action and the friction braking action (both are used for trimming on that ride).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It's a shame they can't be used to outright stop a ride. Maybe CP's Wildcat wouldn't take an hour to start back up after rain!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.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"

Check out what fellow Buzzer and Kennywood Boulevarder loriu had to say:

"The new braking system has been installed on the Jack Rabbit and it will not effect it's ACE classic status."

I'd expect that to mean its current status is "classic," and the new brakes wouldn't change that...

But maybe the park doesn't know its own coaster isn't considered "classic" by ACE? Or maybe it doesn't care?

Or maybe ACE just doesn't have the balls to strip the title "classic" from one of the oldest coasters in the country with historical significance. :)

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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster : Kennywood Boulevard