woodie wheel assemblies

a quick question i have always wondered but never bothered to find out the answers for.

what are woodie wheel assemblies like? is there a running wheel, side friction and an upstop like on steel coasters? does the assembly vary from manufacturer to manufacturer like on steel coasters?

anyone got any answers? pics would also be great, thanks!

Running wheel, guide wheel, and upstop, you got it.

A few small woodies, namely te Allen Jr. PTC's liek Beastie and Sea Serpant have Flanged wheels that follow the track like a railroad car. They do not have guide wheels.

The whel assemblies are pretty standard whether they are Premier Trains on Sonny, Gerstlauers on The Villian, or PTC's on Raven.

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are all the wheels in contact with the track at all times, or is there a small gap? i would have thought that a small gap on the upstops would create a better airtime feeling, am i right?

They have a small gap all three ways. This is why woodies feel so "rickety."

The intamin woodies I believe, make full contact with the track. But I am not sure.

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Coming in 2003
The Spawn Of Magnum!

I was the last non employee through Maggie's turnstile this year. Woo Hoo.

On some wood coasters you can hear the upstops spinning when the train makes it back to the station. On Zeus @ Big Chief's this summer, we could actually feel them as they were making the floor of the train vibrate. Pretty cool. :)

A few woodies also have skids instead of wheels for the upstops. LoCoSuMo has unique pivoting wheel assemblies due to its extremely tight curves.

On the same note a lot of steelies have skids instead of upstops.

Magnum even had them the first Season. You could watch them spark along the track at night.

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Coming in 2003
The Spawn Of Magnum!

I was the last non employee through Maggie's turnstile this year. Woo Hoo.

That spinning Chris is talking about can also be the running wheels. Megafobia brakes right next to the queue, and you can see and hear some of the runner wheels still going for it when the train is still. I know that these are articulating trains, but there's obviously some room for imperfections in these CCI chassies.

Blackpools Grand National has a double-drop, as the train goes over the flat section onto the lower part of the drop the whole train goes quiet as it leaves the track- there's loads of gap between the wheels.

You should also check out the older side friction coasters here,and here! where the trains only have runners and side friction wheels mounted to the side of the train- the train then runs along a flat track with sides to guide it along... seems easy enough to DIY!

*** This post was edited by colin mcwilliam on 11/4/2002. ***

Leap The Dips at Lakemont is the only remaining side friction in the US.

please explain what skids are. instead of wheels, are they just metal plates?

laurence, you pretty much hit it on the nose, they are thick steel plates mounted to keep the train on track at all times, like upstops...

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The trains on the Puyallup Fair Coaster Thrill Ride and the Vancouver PNE Coaster trains are trailered with flanged wheels with skid plates that entend under a wider piece of wood in the track laminations for an upstop.The lead car on the train has four wheels with a track lubricator and each car is a two wheeled trailer,sort of a "talgo train".This arrangment allows the train to negotiate the tight turns and twisting track on these coasters.Prior & Church,Harry Traver,and Carl Phare coasters used this style of trains when first built.None of the surviving Prior & Church coasters still run with these trains,I believe.Perhaps Rideman can jump into this topic?

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Lets' save the Vancouver PNE Coaster before its'too late!

Schwarzkopf used skids on the Jetstar models to. excuse the tree in this pic!

*** This post was edited by colin mcwilliam on 11/5/2002. ***

Do I really need to jump in here when you guys have things pretty well covered?

I know that there are some unusual variations, for instance, the Racer and Thunderbolt at Kennywood do not have up-stop wheels because the guide wheels run beneath an angle-iron attached to the inboard edge of the track and therefore the guide wheels function as up-stops. There is typically an inch or more of clearance in any direction for the wheel carriers between the wheel and the rail. Most wood coasters have wheel assemblies that cannot steer (the exceptions are the PTC junior coaster trains, and CCI's LoCoSuMo). In general, the Morgan/Prior & Church/Carl Phare/Mike Boodley trains can handle curves better than the PTC cars not because their wheels can steer (in fact, they can't...) but because the cars are trailered with the hitches sitting on the axle centerline where it belongs.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.