Who Assembles Steel Coasters

I have always wondered who does the assembly of steel coasters. Is it a manufacturer-specific team or just some local steel workers?

Local steel workers

There is probably a supervisor from the company that is on site.
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CP! Still the coaster capital of the world in 2002!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
WoodenCoaster.com

Technically the assembly is done by local "iron workers". Steel workers make steel. (And other things, most of the chemical industry in my area is unionized by the United Steel Workers) Iron workers assemble it into buildings. Semantics can get weird.

It's done by whoever the park contracts to erect the coaster. Some compaines like S&S will actually do the erection themeselves as long as the park rents al the equpiment. Titan at Six Flags Over Texas was erected by Trinity Contractors (now Encompass Texas) who also manufactured the pylons under contract from Giovanola.

All in all it's whoever the park decides. Sometime the park will do it in-house if they have the staff.
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Jeremy Murphy
www.lonestarthrills.com

*** This post was edited by Lone Star Thrills on 12/30/2001. ***

Lone Star Thrills said:
Some compaines like S&S will actually do the erection...

I was at Cedar Point as they were getting ready to open VertiGo, and there was a man speaking to a group of high powered folks about the construction. His shirt said United Riggors And Erectors, and I have to assume that this is the company that installed the ride. It's possible that it's a subdivision of S&S, I really don't know.

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-FCR
I'd Rather Be Riding Roller Coasters

Iron workers. Because my old 6th-grade teacher's husband worked on Magnum at Cedar Point. She showed me tons of construction photos. Too bad she wouldn't let keep them. :(

Sometimes the ride manufacturer will ask for a group that is familiar with their rides or has done good work assembling them before. at Deja Vu at SFOG, the crew that assembled it was not from Georgia.

FloridaCoasterRider said:
I was at Cedar Point as they were getting ready to open VertiGo, and there was a man speaking to a group of high powered folks about the construction. His shirt said United Riggors And Erectors, and I have to assume that this is the company that installed the ride. It's possible that it's a subdivision of S&S, I really don't know.
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-FCR
I'd Rather Be Riding Roller Coasters

S&S states in their media kit they can do the erection. Cedar Point more or less uses the same contractor like Six Flags Over Texas does. If the park is happy with your work, then you can bet you will be contracted on their next project.

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Can't say for all parks, but I am assuming local steel workers. In the program for Hershey Bears hockey, there is an ad for a local firm that works with steel. They list Hersheypark's Sidewinder and Great Bear as some of their projects.

Also, my brother in law has stated that his firm (a carpentry / construction firm) has a job at Hersheypark in "early spring" to work on their "new coaster". Since Hershey's "new coaster" would be Roller Soaker, and since that is steel, and since he works with wooden construction, I can only assume he may be either a) mixed up in what he is saying, or b) working possibly on the station, queue/exit ramps or associated land scaping changes (retaining walls, etc).

Unless I'm mistaken, our own coasterpunk is one of those ironworkers in the Hershey PA area. Not sure if he actually worked on one of their rides, but I know he knows some of the people ar least.
Merry New Year!

I believe the company that assembled Titan at SFOT also assembled Batman (and maybe Mr. Freeze, not sure though). There is website that details the construction of Mr. Freeze and has some interviews and behind the scenes pics with the steel workers.

http://home.attbi.com/~gep-2/mrfreeze.html