Wooden/Steel Coaster

I was wondering if anyone has ever built a steel coaster that looked like a wooden one. For example having all of the wooden supports that look like a wooden coaster, but with steel tracks, so that the coaster is smooth?

Um, Gemini at CP.

Don't forget California Screamin' @ DCA.

Don't forget CP's Cedar Creek Mine Ride.

Rob, isn't California Screamin's structure steel?

"BobSleds" at SeaBreeze.

However, it was not built as a "steel coaster with wooden supports". According to RCDB, it started its life as a junior terrain wooden coaster, but the park added another layer and installed tubular steel tracks in 1968.

*** Edited 1/4/2005 3:29:48 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

Screamin' *is* in fact steel, but the folks at Disney say "designed to look like a traditional wooden coaster"...only with mouse ears...:)

And then there's the matter of the loop...

Valleyfair's Excalibur is proof that a wooden structure with steel tracks does NOT equal smooth.

Not only were certain segments rebuilt completely of steel, it may have the world's longest downhill brake run.

It's not the materials, it's the design.

-'Playa

I thought that Hershey's StormRunner had the longest downhill brake run? ;)

When it comes to Arrow, the problem is always the design. All it takes is a quick glance at some pictures of Excaliber to know what is wrong with it. I wonder how Gemini turned out so well (almost a decade earlier) while Excaliber was more or less a disaster?

Blind luck?

Pretty much any "mine train" style coaster is steel track on wooden supports (notice I didn't say ALL, though, before some rules lawyer starts harping on me ;) )

Playa, those steel-only sections on Excalibur remind me a lot of The Ultimate's return run. *** Edited 1/4/2005 4:22:08 PM UTC by GregLeg***

The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley, though that coaster is anything but smooth.

Re VF's Excalibur: There are certain things coasters just shouldn't do (like the midcourse 180 turn) and certain things Arrow trains especially shouldn't do.

I can't help but wonder if custom trains would track better. As it stands with the brakes and the rework, it's actually better than you'd think.

-'Playa

*** Edited 1/4/2005 4:23:13 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

There are wooden rollercoasters with loops right?

If yes does anyone have any links?

Son of Beast at King's Island. A useful addition to the park!

Too bad that is the worst wooden coaster still standing.

Just looking at pictures of Excalibur, it looks as if it was designed by an 8 year old.

Word: I think the idea was to go all out--a hundred-foot drop followed with violent air and furious speed. The engineering just wasn't there to actually pull it off.

Actually, Arrow gave it a fair amount of rework in 2000..which is why it's part steel supports, part wood.

It still ranks higher on Mitch Hawker's steel coaster charts than SV. That should tell you something...

-'Playa

*** Edited 1/4/2005 6:10:18 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

Word, you may not like it SoB all together but there's nothing that can match the loop.

As for steel coasters with wooden supports, pretty much every Arrow mine train.

It sounds like these steel coasters with wood supports aren't very cozy to ride on, but has anyone done a steel coaster with steel supports, and made it look like a wooden one, basically with just a shell? Not actually using the wood for support?

That would be the afore-mentioned California Sceamin' at DCA.

Woody Woodpecker has some of the "wood look" going on, supports and such, but there's not a scrap of lumber in *The Complex*...I think that's what you were getting at, Tigger...