Hello Crew,
Congratulations on your recent roller coaster purchase! Please follow the details listed below for a solid sturdy roller coaster that will run for decades.
Step 1
Organize all pieces so that you when construction begins you can easily find the piece you need.
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| Pieces are arranged to find them easier. |
Hold up! We're going to need to slam into the mid course brake run for a second and hit the rewind button because we missed quite a few steps.
The first thing that has to happen is that the people in charge have to agree on what to build. Do they want steel or wood? Do they want cutting edge or classic or maybe classic with a twist? Do they want a Zierer (Verbolten/Impulse), maybe a Mack ride (Wild Mouse), how about a Gerstlauer (Mystery Mine), maybe an Intamin (Wilderness Run) or a B&M (Iron Wolf). Family owned parks may consider buying a used ride. Franchise parks may consider moving a ride.
Parks will visit websites, other parks and IAAPA to narrow down the list of manufacturers. They will decide what direction (both figuratively and literally) they may want the ride to go. Once they have the types and manufacturers narrowed down they will send what they are looking for to several manufacturers. A company will produce a prospectus that inlcues some art work and and a rough cost estimate for the park to look at. Manufacturers may also come to a park and say "listen, we got this crazy new idea for a launched wing coaster we think you're gonna love." Once a park has received all options they will pick the one that best fits their budget and space. Once the contracts are signed and handshakes are shook engineering and design can begin.
Huge piles of blue prints will be drawn. Structural blue prints for supports, track layout, electrical and so much more will go into the design. Every aspect that you could ever think about will be covered. The companies brought together on the project will work to make sure the ride and every element including the queue, the picture stand, the height sign, the on ride camera and so much more meet ASTM standards.
Land being used to build this scream machine will be cleared of trees, giant boulders, and other obsticles. Some parks will usually go to great lengths to keep trees in place. Once plans for the supports have been drafted a construction crew will come in and begin surveying the land and placing flags (or pavement markings) of several colors on the ground. These colors will indicate existing things like electric, sewer, phone or cable. They will also indicate where footings need to go and where utilities need to go or be relocated to.
Once the footings are mapped out construction crews will begin to dig. In some cases, depending of the condition of the soil, they will dig very deep. Once holes are dug to the proper level the forms and rebar will be brought in. After the forms and rebar are set in place the concrete is poured. This process will continue until all footers are in place.
While work for track set up is under way coaster cars for both wood and steel coasters and track and supports for steel coasters will be constructed offsite. Some ride manufacturers create their own track, support and trains. Other coaster companies may contract work for trains and/or track out to a third party.
Back at the construction site once the concrete has cured long enough vertical construction can begin. Up to this point steel and wooden roller coasters have followed almost the exact same path (except there are a whole lot more footers in the ground for wooden coasters). This is the point were they start to take different paths for a bit.
Steel coasters have support beams that are labeled using a companies detailed alphanumeric system to bring the project together sort of similar to that of building Ikea furniture. Everything is sorted and laid out and piece one goes into piece two which connect to piece three until everything is together. Pieces are required to be put together in a certain order to maintain structural integrity.
Most wooden coasters are built onsite. Large trucks of wood will show up and carpenters will begin creating a vertical section called a bent. A crane will lift this bent into position over two footers. Once the bent is in place they will connect it to another bent with pieces of lumber running horizontal up the sides. As the bents are being connected another team of carpenters will begin constructing the track. Several layers of wood are built and bent on top of the supports. The wood is then topped off with a flat steel pieces of track that are bent.
While coasters of steel or wood are being built work will start on the station and electrical work will begin. As opening day of the new ride approaches trains will be brought in and installed on the track. These trains are usually brought into the holding/transfer area of the ride and craned into the holding track.
Once electrical work, track, brakes and moving mechanisms of the ride are installed it is time to begin testing. This does not mean they will be bringing out a train and sending it around the track. In some cases one car of the train will be placed on the track and then it will be pulled through the ride by crane. This makes sure that the track is lined up and all clearance envelopes set by the manufacturer are observed.
Once it is confirmed that a train can make a pass around the track without running into anything the electrical system will be tested. The lift will be started and stopped, the emergency stop buttons will be checked. Each individual brake and kicker wheel will be tested to make sure it runs properly. Once the PLCs (brain of the coaster) are confirmed to be working properly a full train is then set on the track and testing begins.
At first the ride will only test one train to make sure all computer components are communicating properly. Once one train testing is complete they will add a second train, and check to make sure blocking works properly. In other words they make sure the computer system won't allow two trains in the same section of track at the same time. They will continue until all trains are added. The ride will then test run until they meet state requirements before they open.
This is a very (not so) brief overview of what happens during the construction of a ride. If you've ever watch a wood coaster vs. a steel coaster being built you'll notice that wood takes a good bit longer to build than steal. Why am I saying this? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Cedar Point hasn't opened for 2015 yet and there already clearing land for a new attraction. Maybe an maybe a GCI, maybe a Gravity Group. Maybe the wooden coaster isn't dead after all. Of Course it could be an RMC hybrid too.
Until Next Time.
-William
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| "Let's build an Intamin and call it Intimidator 305" "That's a top notch idea, Bob" and thus one of the countries best coasters (IMHO) was born. |
Huge piles of blue prints will be drawn. Structural blue prints for supports, track layout, electrical and so much more will go into the design. Every aspect that you could ever think about will be covered. The companies brought together on the project will work to make sure the ride and every element including the queue, the picture stand, the height sign, the on ride camera and so much more meet ASTM standards.
Land being used to build this scream machine will be cleared of trees, giant boulders, and other obsticles. Some parks will usually go to great lengths to keep trees in place. Once plans for the supports have been drafted a construction crew will come in and begin surveying the land and placing flags (or pavement markings) of several colors on the ground. These colors will indicate existing things like electric, sewer, phone or cable. They will also indicate where footings need to go and where utilities need to go or be relocated to.
Once the footings are mapped out construction crews will begin to dig. In some cases, depending of the condition of the soil, they will dig very deep. Once holes are dug to the proper level the forms and rebar will be brought in. After the forms and rebar are set in place the concrete is poured. This process will continue until all footers are in place.
 |
| A whole lot of earth moving going on to build Gatekeeper |
While work for track set up is under way coaster cars for both wood and steel coasters and track and supports for steel coasters will be constructed offsite. Some ride manufacturers create their own track, support and trains. Other coaster companies may contract work for trains and/or track out to a third party.
Back at the construction site once the concrete has cured long enough vertical construction can begin. Up to this point steel and wooden roller coasters have followed almost the exact same path (except there are a whole lot more footers in the ground for wooden coasters). This is the point were they start to take different paths for a bit.
Steel coasters have support beams that are labeled using a companies detailed alphanumeric system to bring the project together sort of similar to that of building Ikea furniture. Everything is sorted and laid out and piece one goes into piece two which connect to piece three until everything is together. Pieces are required to be put together in a certain order to maintain structural integrity.
 |
| Mind the gap on Skyrush at Hersheypark |
Most wooden coasters are built onsite. Large trucks of wood will show up and carpenters will begin creating a vertical section called a bent. A crane will lift this bent into position over two footers. Once the bent is in place they will connect it to another bent with pieces of lumber running horizontal up the sides. As the bents are being connected another team of carpenters will begin constructing the track. Several layers of wood are built and bent on top of the supports. The wood is then topped off with a flat steel pieces of track that are bent.
 |
| That's a whole lot of footers and bents (Sorry, I don't have an wooden coaster construction pics) |
While coasters of steel or wood are being built work will start on the station and electrical work will begin. As opening day of the new ride approaches trains will be brought in and installed on the track. These trains are usually brought into the holding/transfer area of the ride and craned into the holding track.
Once electrical work, track, brakes and moving mechanisms of the ride are installed it is time to begin testing. This does not mean they will be bringing out a train and sending it around the track. In some cases one car of the train will be placed on the track and then it will be pulled through the ride by crane. This makes sure that the track is lined up and all clearance envelopes set by the manufacturer are observed.
Once it is confirmed that a train can make a pass around the track without running into anything the electrical system will be tested. The lift will be started and stopped, the emergency stop buttons will be checked. Each individual brake and kicker wheel will be tested to make sure it runs properly. Once the PLCs (brain of the coaster) are confirmed to be working properly a full train is then set on the track and testing begins.
At first the ride will only test one train to make sure all computer components are communicating properly. Once one train testing is complete they will add a second train, and check to make sure blocking works properly. In other words they make sure the computer system won't allow two trains in the same section of track at the same time. They will continue until all trains are added. The ride will then test run until they meet state requirements before they open.
This is a very (not so) brief overview of what happens during the construction of a ride. If you've ever watch a wood coaster vs. a steel coaster being built you'll notice that wood takes a good bit longer to build than steal. Why am I saying this? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Cedar Point hasn't opened for 2015 yet and there already clearing land for a new attraction. Maybe an maybe a GCI, maybe a Gravity Group. Maybe the wooden coaster isn't dead after all. Of Course it could be an RMC hybrid too.
Until Next Time.
-William
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