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Roller Coasters

Wooden Side-Friction Roller Coaster
Track is laminated wood, topped with a flat steel running rail, constructed on a wooden support structure. Trains are guided along the track by side-friction wheels running inside wooden guide rails.
(Side-Friction cars may occasionally fly off the track if they move too fast at the tops of hills {s}.)

Virginia Reel
Track is a flat-bottomed wooden trough. The cars are guided along the track by the sides of the trough, spinning as they touch the sides.
(Twists and corners are what keep the tubs spinning, but long drops may occasionally produce too much speed, and cause the tubs to fly off the track {s}.)

Wooden Reverser Roller Coaster
Track is laminated wood, topped with a flat steel running rail, constructed on a wooden support structure. Cars run on bogies guided along the track by side-friction running wheels. Special sections of track are used to turn the car around, allowing it to run backwards.

Wooden Roller Coaster
Track is laminated wood, topped with a flat steel running rail, constructed on a wooden support structure. Trains are held on the track by up-stop wheels, which run under the inside edge of the rails.

Wooden Twister Roller Coaster
Track is laminated wood, topped with a flat steel running rail, constructed on a wooden support structure. Trains are held on the track by up-stop wheels, which run under the inside edge of the rails.

Wooden Crazy Rodent Roller Coaster
Track is laminated wood, topped with a flat steel running rail, constructed on a wooden support structure. Cars are held on the track by mushroom shaped pegs running between the steel guide rails in the center of the track, allowing the cars to tilt over on corners.

Steel Wild Mouse Roller Coaster
Track consists of tubular steel rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Cars are held on the track by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Inverted Wild Mouse Coaster
Track consists of tubular steel rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Cars hang under the track, held on by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Steel Mini Roller Coaster
Track has steel running rails with cross-bracing. Supports are thin square-section posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Mine Train Roller Coaster
Track consists of tubular steel running rails, fastened to a wooden support structure. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and inside the running rails.

Steel Roller Coaster
Track has a tubular steel spine, connected to the inside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Stand-Up Steel Roller Coaster
Track has a tubular steel spine, connected to the inside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Steel Corkscrew Roller Coaster
Track has a tubular steel spine, connected to the outside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and inside the running rails.

Steel Twister Roller Coaster
Track has box-section steel spine, connected to the inside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Suspended Roller Coaster
Track has a tubular steel spine, connected to the inside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains hang underneath the track, swinging freely from a chasis held on by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Inverted Roller Coaster
Track has square-section steel spine, connected to the inside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large square-section steel posts. Trains hang underneath the track, held in position by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.
(Placing your curves over water will give your guests a thrill {s}.)

Suspended Looping Coaster
Track has tubular steel spine, connected to the outside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains hang underneath the track, held in position by wheels above, below and inside the running rails.

Suspended Single-Rail Roller Coaster
Track is a single tubular steel rail, supported by tubular steel posts. Cars hang from the rail, swinging freely from side to side.

Single-Rail Roller Coaster
Track consists of two tubular steel rails, one above the other, connected by bracing. Supports are thin tubular steel posts. Cars are held on the track by wheels above, below and either side of the rails.

Bobsled Roller Coaster
Track is semi-circular channel, supported by tubular steel posts. Cars run on small wheels, and are free to take their own course along the track, guided only by the curvature and gradient of the channel.
(Bobsled cars may occasionally fly off the track if they move too fast at the tops of hills or around curves {s}.)

Heartline Twister Roller Coaster
Track consists of tubular steel running rails, running through circular steel hoops. Cars run centrally between the rails, allowing heartline twists.

Flying Roller Coaster
Track has tubular steel spine, connected to the outside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large tubular steel posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and inside the running rails.

Reverse Whoa Belly Roller Coaster
Cars run on steel girder tracks. The car is accelerated out of the station, along level track using Linear Induction Motors. It then coasts up to the vertical section of track, and free-falls backwards down the track to return to the station.
(The longer the straightaway, the more time your car has to speed up {s}.)

Vertical Roller Coaster
Track has square-section steel spine, connected to the inside edges of tubular steel running rails. Supports are large square-section steel posts. Trains are held on the track by wheels above, below and outside the running rails.

Air Powered Vertical Coaster
Track consists of steel girders. Trains run on rubber tires to give a smooth ride, with up-stop wheels below.

Construction Tips

The most important considerations are:

• Keep your positive g's below 5-6. [Positive g's come from transitions to inclines].
• Keep your negative g's below 2, ideally below 1.5 or even 1 if you want low intensities. [Negative g's come from transitions to declines].
• Keep your lateral g's below 2.5. [Lateral g's come from corners, primarily unbanked corners].

In general, follow these guidelines:

• Stay under 45 Mph going into vertical loops.
• Stay under 31 Mph going into an Inversion Element, and do not have more than 11 Inversion Elements.
• Enter Stations at under 20 Mph {s}.
• Don't put in drops unless they "mean" something. The more drops you have, the higher the Intensity seems to be -- even if some of your drops are 1-2 units. Don't waste 'em.
• When making drops/rises don't go from flat to steep immediately.
• Always bank corners, because tight, horizontal curves, increase lateral g's (and therefore, increase Intensity).
• When coasters reach the crests of hills, they should be "under control" (longer trains weight more, and run faster downhill).
• Put inclined curves only at the top of crests. Similarly, only put decline curves at the beginning of drops. Otherwise lateral g's get out of control.
• Put a single "anti-rollback" lift chain on the crests of your larger hills, especially if the hill climbs to a plateau. Trains will pass over these chains without penalty if the train is moving faster than the chain speed, and the chain will help to pull the train forward if the train is moving slower. Don't go overboard however, as chain lifts add significantly to the operating costs of that ride.
• Avoid "Powered Launch" unless it's the best option for what you want to achieve. This form of propulsion has much higher operating costs than the typical chain-gravity system, and is less reliable in the long run {m}.
• If your coaster travels underground, guests will find a sudden tunnel followed by a brief run outside and then a return to the tunnel more exciting than a long tunnel with twists and turns {s}.
• Racing Coasters (two coasters with track repeatedly paralleling each other) and Dueling Coasters (two coasters with track that repeatedly heads for each other) have a higher Excitement than the same two coasters separated from each other {s}.
• Placing trees (or similar scenery) in front of sudden curves and drops can add to Excitement {s}. A drop with a turn always becomes more Exciting when it turns over water {s}.
• An On-Ride Photo (especially on the largest hill) adds Excitement to the ride {s}.

Dealing with Crashes:

• Fix the problem. For example, if a Coaster is failing due to Worn Brakes, you can replace JUST the section of track with the bad brakes {s}.
• Don't bother renaming the ride, it WON'T help!
• Running a Marketing Campaign for a ride will bring riders from outside the park who haven't heard about the crash.
• Do minor things to increase interest in the ride such as:
• Lower the rides ticket price (some Guests choose price over safety).
• Add a new feature to the ride, such as an On-Ride Photo (this will cause an Excitement increase).
• Hire an Entertainer for the ride (this will increase guests Happiness while at the ride).
• Repaint the entire ride, cars, and tracks (this will cause a "slight" Excitement increase).
• Guests willl forget about crashes after several months {s}.

It may surprise you how just how slow (and majestically) real world coaster trains travel. Watch a coaster video and count out loud as the trains work thru inversions. For instance, a real coaster train will take 4 seconds to pass thru a vertical loop. That is very slow compared to an RCT train! A corkscrew will take 1.5 seconds, and a cobra roll 3.5 to 4 seconds.