SOB Trains?

There is a rumor afloat that Son of Beast will receive Gerstlauer trains. When I heard that it just seemed so wrong. If it is to run with Gerstlauer trains, how will this affect the ride experience?

If it gets g-trains, there won't BE a ride experience because the first set of people will never make it back alive... they will be shuffled to death in their uncomfortable plastic coffins.

Do we need another thread on SOB?

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=46155&page=8

Any train by any manufacturer running on SOB has to be custom-made as the ride has a wider-than-normal track gauge. Standard PTCs, Gerstlauers, etc are made to fit the standard [narrower] gauge.

Gerstlauer came out with a second generation train. I think they are run on the S&S woodie in Europe.

Anyone ridden them?

Chuck, who thinks if passing isn't included, The ride is still gonna have complaints.

I like PTC's trains. I havent heard to much about Gerstlauer though, maybe they will be okay.

I think they do have their second version trains running on Falken in Europe. Although from what I hear, Falken is a really good wooden coaster. However that could have more to do with S&S doing a good job with the layout of the ride and less to do with the trains.

I actually didn't mind these trains on Villain, Twisted Twins, or when Legend had them. Those of course were the first generation ones, but I actually think even those would be an improvement for Son of Beast. The Son of Beast trains had you riding in an awful position, with the floor boards raised. That at least should not be an issue.

The one biggest gripe that most people have with the Gerstlauer trains are the lap restraints being u-shaped and hitting your legs on them. Of course the orginal restraints for Son of Beast had a similar design, and Son of Beast does have alot of turns and helices. At least with the better riding position and trains that track a bit better, maybe it will perform smoother. At least it gives a little hope for a better ride

Although I would have liked to see GCII Millenium Flyer trains on it. I think they are the best wooden tracking trains. PTC trains would have been ok as well, but I don't think they would have worked great on Son of Beast.

PTC's work well on out & backs but,depending on the layout they don't do as well on twisters...Roar east,HP's Wildcat & Gwazi come to mind.

The new SOB trains definitely aren't PTC. I have heard that Kings Island had originally approached PTC to commission new vehicles for SOB, but they were unable to comply with the deadline Kings Island set for them to deliver the rolling stock by.

I actually love the way Gersties track (generally), its just the seating configuration that is pretty uncomfortable.

Then again it seems most coasters still running them don't seem to have aged very well, not sure if that's due to the trains, structure/track upkeep, and original construction quality if the reports of a lot of those late CCI's being pretty shoddy are to be believed. I'm betting a combination of all could be possible.

Will be interesting to see how this all works out. *** Edited 2/5/2007 1:18:30 AM UTC by matt.***

The 3 bench Gerstlauer train running on Falken does not feature the infamous U shaped lap bars! Instead, it uses pretty comfortable T bars. If they use those trains on SOB, it could be pretty good.

Oh cool, yeah I didn't know they had different restraints for the new version on Falken. T bar restraints should work alot better than the U shaped ones, especially with the amount of turns on Son of Beast. Anyone been on Falken and can give a report on how they perform? I do think that they are getting that version, but I guess we have to wait for monday or later to here all the details. I am also interested to see what logo or color the trains are. I was never a big fan of how the old trains looked.

I agree that this thread is just duplicating the other KI thread, but hears what I said there...

Well, unless they made a decision in the past week there is no gaurentee of anything. Maureen Kaiser said that it was narrowed down to 2 Manufactures but that a decision had not been made. At Eastcoaster Saturday, Tom Rebbie from PTC was again asked about SOB and he again said that they are not building the trains

Considering Im told that one of the trains is on location already. They're feeding you either a line or something they don't know.

Often marketing and maintences aren't on the same page.

Ok. Maybe we will know more tomorrow. *** Edited 2/5/2007 3:27:03 AM UTC by Jason Hammond***

I haven't ridden Falken but Spinning Dragons and Timberland Twister (Gerstlauers) have VERY comfortable T-bars. They're quiet similar to Intamin's and I think they would do very well on a wooden coaster train (especially Son of Beast).

I never had a problem with them but, they are on The Villan at Geauga Lake and a lot of people find them uncomfortable.

I would never ride SOB again if they get Gerstlauers.

The only almost comfortable ride I have ever had with them was on RWB at GL this past summer.

-Tambo

If the Gerstlauer rumor is true you can be assured they will be vastly different from what's on RWB.

They have to be at least a little different because of SOB's track gauge.

One point that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is the the fact they could retrack all of Sonny to meet the narrower gauge of the standard Gerstlauer trains. That's somewhat of a win-win: trains that aren't the original SOB trains and a newer smoother track.