Roller Coasters: Wooden vs. Steel
Corey Stein
“Clank, clank, clank, clank.” The train slowly makes its way up the hill, and anticipation builds. The chain, dutifully hauling the weight, suddenly crests, and the train is off! Moving faster and faster, twenty-eight people experience the thrill of free-fall as they plummet to the ground, pulling up at the last second into the next hill. A minute and a half later, the train is back in the station, with its riders quivering with adrenaline and excitement, having survived another great roller coaster ride. Roller coasters are the staple attractions at amusement parks, and millions of people ride them every day. Although there are hundreds of specific types of roller coasters, from launched coasters to looping coasters, all roller coasters can be placed into two distinct categories: wooden coasters and steel coasters. Although all are roller coasters, each category can be defined by certain characteristics, such as the track and support structure and the different ride experiences.
Obviously, both steel and wooden roller coasters are, in fact, roller coasters, and this can be demonstrated with some common characteristics. By definition a roller coaster must run its course by gravity after an initial means of acceleration, such as a magnetic boost or the previously mentioned chain lift hill. There are many steel roller coasters with lift hills, such as Goliath at Six Flags over Georgia and Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, and there are many with magnetic boosts, such as the world’s tallest coaster, Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. On the other hand, wooden coasters have only been designed with lift hills, although they have the ability for alternate methods of accelerating. Both coaster types also have similarities in their trains. Although the specific trains vary wildly from ride to ride, they all generally have two or four seats per row, with one to two rows per car, and anywhere between one and eight cars per train. Each train has wheel bogeys that run on rails, and each bogey has three different types of wheels: running wheels, which roll on top of the rail, upstop wheels, which are under the rail to prevent the train from flying off the track, and side friction wheels, which roll on the inside or outside of the rail and keep the train from moving from side to side. One final, but very important, characteristic of all roller coasters lies in what they offer, namely, a fun, exciting ride with varying degrees of intensity. Each and every roller coaster, whether wood or steel, big or small, is designed for the enjoyment of the riders.
Moving past the general label of “roller coaster,” there are some big differences between wooden and steel coasters. The main difference is in the track and support structure. In a wooden coaster, the track consists of two rails, each made of a laminated steel rail on top of a few layers of wood. This then sits on the wooden base of the track, which is held up by the support structure. The supports are also made of wood, forming lattices sloping outwards from the track. The support structure forms an imposing picture, with hundreds and thousands of wooden beams combined in one dense entity. This can make for great elements during the ride such as head choppers, which give the illusion of a near miss with a low beam or structure. Steel coasters, however, have very different track and support structures. Steel track is made up of tubular metal rails connected to a central spine. Instead of flat sheets of metal, like wooden track, steel track requires formed circular rails. The first coaster to successfully accomplish this was the Matterhorn Bobsled at Disneyland, California. Since then, many new styles of steel track have constantly updated the face of the steel coaster. Steel support structures greatly differ from wooden supports as well. Instead of a dense collection of wooden beams, steel supports are spaced apart from each other, often forming a triangular shape for maximum support. Since steel is stronger than wood, the extra material is not necessary, and thus not used. Both the differences between wooden and steel track and the differences between wooden and steel supports are easily noticed when looking at a roller coaster.
Not all the differences between the two coaster types are visible, however. One often overlooked distinction between wood and steel is the ride experience. Wooden roller coasters are known for their rough, wild, “out-of-control” feeling. The track shakes and flexes, giving the feeling of a rickety, old, crazy ride with a chance of death around every corner. In reality, this is all a mental reaction. While wooden coasters do sway, the flex is to keep the track and supports from buckling under the pressure of the train hurtling past. Despite the perceived danger, wooden coasters are extremely safe, and are in fact designed for the out-of-control effect and can be themed around this feature, like GhostRider at Knott’s Berry Farm in California. Conversely, steel roller coasters have a more controlled feeling about them. Even though they are generally faster, taller, more intense, and can provide thrills such as loops, corkscrews, and vertical drops, they do not have the same effect of wild, untamed trains of destruction like wooden coasters. Although steel coasters can definitely be much scarier than wooden coasters, this is not due to an out-of-control feeling, but instead comes from being launched at over one hundred and twenty miles per hour, as Formula Rossa in Dubai does, or from dropping more than three hundred feet back to earth, like Millennium Force at Cedar Point in Ohio. While both steel and wooden coasters can provide an exciting, thrilling, and even scary experience, these perceptions come from two very different sources.
Roller coasters have fascinating facts and details that few people know about. Sometimes, theme-park goers don’t even notice the differences between steel and wooden coasters! Although it is true that they are all roller coasters, many differentiations exist from one coaster type to another. When taken at face value, it is easy to see the physical disparities such as the track and support structures, but the two classes of roller coaster give completely different experiences as well, an element not always noticed. Although it may be hard to notice differences when soaring upside-down eighty feet in the air, it is this great diversity between roller coasters that makes them such amazing creations.
