What's this for? (BigBad Wolf at BGW)

What's that upside down track for?

It's a track switch. It works like the track on X-Flight and Batwing. It allows a train in the adjacent shop to be moved on to the main circuit.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.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"

Hmm, seems like a way to take cars off, but upside-down, hmm.
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Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?
A dream or some substance?
A Beamer, a necklace, or freedom?
-Dead Pres

CAn anyone get me a link to X-Flight, or another coaster that uses this. Jeff, I still don't understand. Is it like transfer track?
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gocubs7@hotmail.com
TiM Schroll

It's what's called a "rotary switch."

Big Bad Wolf is particularly neat in that there are networks of switches on both sides of the station. With the switches uptrack of the station, trains can be shunted to any of the storage tracks, and with the switches downtrack of the station (shown in the photo) trains can be moved from the storage tracks to the running track. And except for the switch mechanisms, it's all gravity powered.

The track on top is S-shaped, while the track on the bottom is straight. Flipping the assembly over changes the track configuration through the switch. Clever, eh? :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, I get it now. Thanks

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gocubs7@hotmail.com
TiM Schroll

Yup, it's a transfer track. It works by rolling over the top piece of track which aligns with the side track. I have seen at least one non-inverted coaster with a flipping switch, Ninja at SFOG.

From the photo, it looks straight, thats why I was confused.
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gocubs7@hotmail.com
TiM Schroll

Yes, it's also the same thing as on XLR-8 at SFAW, but there is a station track, and 2 transfer tracks, so its a little more complicated than Bid Bad Wolf's system.

I love the switches like that. I just hope they start using them on Batwing this summer so we can gat better capacity.