Suspended coaster
A suspended coaster is a roller coaster in which the carriages are suspended under the rail and can swing freely to the sides. Due to this additional movement option, unlike the similar inverted coaster , in which the trolleys are rigidly connected to the chassis, it is not possible to drive through inversions with this type of track .
history
1902 was in Long Beach, California with Bisby's spiral Airship opened a similar ride. The first real Suspended Coaster Alpine flight started operations for the Munich Oktoberfest in 1975, one year late due to technical problems. The facility was built by the aviation company MBB based on designs by Werner Stengel and operated by the Munich showman Max Zierer, Jr. The manufacturer, who previously had no experience in roller coaster construction, did not manufacture the rails with a curve incline as specified in the engineering draft for reasons of cost. As a result, structural defects occurred after a short time when the system was in operation due to the high forces in the curves. This led to the decommissioning by the TÜV after the 16 days of play on the fairground. The plant, like a second of its type under construction, was scrapped. After that, MBB was no longer involved in roller coaster construction.
Another less successful concept was implemented in 1981 by Arrow Dynamics in the amusement park Kings Island , Ohio with The Bat . Arrow also refrained from making the rails inclined in the curves. Similar to the alpine flight , this resulted in very high loads and wear and tear on the rails and the chassis of the trains. Despite many attempts to get the vibration behavior of the wagons under control, which caused additional problems, there were often technical problems and thus failures of the railway. Thus, this runway was shut down and demolished at the end of the 1984 season.
A swing coaster from Schwarzkopf GmbH was planned for 1984 in what is now Busch Gardens Europe , Virginia . Schwarzkopf never implemented more than just models of the trains. After Schwarzkopf went bankrupt, the route layout designed by Werner Stengel for the railroad was adopted by Arrow for The Big Bad Wolf, which opened there in the same year . Arrow had improved the technology after the experience with The Bat , this runway was closed and demolished on September 7, 2009 because of the high maintenance costs.
dare
Both trolleys with a floor and those in which the passengers' legs hang freely, such as the inverted coaster trolleys, are used on suspended coasters. Arrow and Vekoma generally use trolleys for four people in two rows.
In some cases, railways were also converted and equipped with new floorless trains. For example Vampires in Chessington World of Adventures , England or Dream Catcher (formerly Air Race with cars designed as airplanes) in Bobbejaanland, Belgium . The bottomless trains consist of carriages with two seats in a row.
The manufacturer Caripro builds systems with single wagons for two people. There is Sky Rider in Skyline Park, a facility with rotating gondolas, with four passengers looking inward at a central rotating axis. Caripro's Milky Way Adventure Park in England also has a powered coaster version, i.e. with self-propelled carts.
The manufacturer Setpoint also equips its railways with individual wagons. With Pteranodon Flyers in the American Universal Studios Island of Adventures there is a system with two individual seats arranged one behind the other, reminiscent of a chain carousel . The other Setpoint systems have four seats that are arranged back to back in pairs.
The so far unique Mountain Glider Vertigo from Doppelmayr in Walibi Belgium has bottomless single wagons with a row for four people.
Manufacturer
The Suspended Coaster is one of the rarely built roller coaster types. Arrow Dynamics built ten, Caripro nine, Doppelmayr one, MBB one, Setpoint three and Vekoma four tracks. There are currently only 22 lifts in operation worldwide. The opening of two new lifts is planned for 2008.
List of known deliveries
| Roller coaster | operator | country | opening | closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine flight | Franz Josef Koch |
 Germany
|
October 1974 | October 1974 |
| Dream catcher | Bobbejaanland |
 Belgium
|
1987 | |
| Iron Dragon | Cedar Point |
 United States
|
June 11, 1987 | |
| Ninja | Six Flags Magic Mountain |
United States
|
May 21, 1988 | |
| Roller soaker | Hersheypark |
United States
|
May 11, 2002 | 3rd September 2012 |
| The Bat | Kings Island |
United States
|
1981 | 1983 |
| The Bat | Kings Island |
United States
|
April 9, 1993 | |
| The Big Bad Wolf | Busch Gardens Williamsburg |
United States
|
June 15, 1984 | September 7, 2009 |
| Vampires | Chessington World of Adventures |
 United Kingdom
|
April 11, 1990 | |
| Vertigo | Walibi Belgium |
Belgium
|
June 16, 2007 | May 19, 2008 |
| Vortex | Canada's Wonderland |
 Canada
|
1991 | |
| XLR-8 | Six Flags AstroWorld |
United States
|
1984 | October 30, 2005 |
literature
- Scott Rutherford et al. a .: Swing Coasters in First Drop # 77, March 2007, club magazine of the European Coaster Club
