FParker185 wrote:There is no wood inside the topper of topper track, it's hollow steel at installation. I understand it's filled with cement after being installed.
Topper track offers no structural support what so ever, it's simply a means to maintain exact exact track guage, 100% of the support is offered by the wooden laminates under the topper track. I'd still consider it a wood coaster, just with thicker road steel. The topper is actually connected to the track ties with a sort of hinge(single bolt, 90 degree angle) rendering the topper incapable of supporting any weight on it's own. Without the wooden trackbed underneath, the rails would simply fold inward and the train would fall off the tracks. This pic shows it pretty decent, you can also see the cement overflow all over the before it washed away.
Also for regular wood coasters, there is upstop steel only where needed (airtime spots and lifthill), if you ride in the front row of a woodie and you see bolts sticking up out of the top of the track, that's for the upstop steel.
Thank you very much for giving us this explanation, but can you or someone else please explain the understeel that you mentioned at the end again? I don't quite understand where this can be seen on the track and if you could provide a picture showing the difference I would appreciate it very much.
FParker185 wrote:There is no wood inside the topper of topper track, it's hollow steel at installation. I understand it's filled with cement after being installed. Topper track offers no structural support what so ever, it's simply a means to maintain exact exact track guage, 100% of the support is offered by the wooden laminates under the topper track. I'd still consider it a wood coaster, just with thicker road steel. The topper is actually connected to the track ties with a sort of hinge(single bolt, 90 degree angle) rendering the topper incapable of supporting any weight on it's own. Without the wooden trackbed underneath, the rails would simply fold inward and the train would fall off the tracks. This pic shows it pretty decent, you can also see the cement overflow all over the before it washed away.
Also for regular wood coasters, there is upstop steel only where needed (airtime spots and lifthill), if you ride in the front row of a woodie and you see bolts sticking up out of the top of the track, that's for the upstop steel.
Thanks for the explanation So.... how would this help eagle.... since 80% of eagle roughness is from side to side slop and shimmy rather than coasters that shake you up and down (bumpy).
FParker185 wrote:There is no wood inside the topper of topper track, it's hollow steel at installation. I understand it's filled with cement after being installed. Topper track offers no structural support what so ever, it's simply a means to maintain exact exact track guage, 100% of the support is offered by the wooden laminates under the topper track. I'd still consider it a wood coaster, just with thicker road steel. The topper is actually connected to the track ties with a sort of hinge(single bolt, 90 degree angle) rendering the topper incapable of supporting any weight on it's own. Without the wooden trackbed underneath, the rails would simply fold inward and the train would fall off the tracks. This pic shows it pretty decent, you can also see the cement overflow all over the before it washed away.
Also for regular wood coasters, there is upstop steel only where needed (airtime spots and lifthill), if you ride in the front row of a woodie and you see bolts sticking up out of the top of the track, that's for the upstop steel.
Thanks for the explanation So.... how would this help eagle.... since 80% of eagle roughness is from side to side slop and shimmy rather than coasters that shake you up and down (bumpy).
Like he said, the toppers keep the gauge constant, which would completely solve the lateral jitter. Inconsistent gauges cause the jamming of the car into the side of the track.
Topper track may all be the same width, but imperfections that cause rail to rail width and abnormal/bumpy bends in tye sides of the track would still allow just as much slop on side wheels wouldnt they?
Topper has steel track ties that look similar to arrow track ties that wrap around the bottom of the track, that's what keeps the guage exact. Just rode Timber Terror at Silvwerrod recently, and the parts with topper track are amazingly smooth in turns.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 222, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 822, Wood: 178, Total: 1000
How someone said they may make the Funnel Cake Foundry into a themed restaurant for the ride, either that or they keep Wolf Den Snacks and just change the name. I can picture them transforming the Mporium into a gift shop for the ride, like they did with Xgear
Consecutive Trips Riding X Flight: 92 SFGAm Lifetime Trips: 104
If it hasn't been mentioned earlier: if you can't be at the meeting tonight you can watch it live here, or by searching for the show "SFGAmZone" on your mobile device's USTREAM app.
This was posted on SFGAm's FB page as their new page cover.
It's looking like it will be called Goliath. It also fits in with the clues of the texts before each video smashing into the rock, the employee who keeps getting into trouble each video is named "David", and the beginning of the 3rd teaser they showed GIANT Drop. I was hoping it would be an original name but oh well. As long as the coaster is crazy awesome, that's all that matters.
Founder of http://www.sfgamnation.com Favorite Steel: 1. Maverick 2. The Incredible Hulk 3. Millennium Force Favorite Wood: 1. Outlaw Run 2. The Beast 3. American Eagle
That cover photo is full of Goliath hints. Besides saying "GIANT", there are 3 roller coasters in that photo that aren't at SFGAm. One is a Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang (Goliath at SFNE). The other two are Tatsu and Revolution at SFMM, which of course has a hyper coaster named Goliath.
I've never been to one of these zoning meetings before but do you think they will announce the name tonight or keep that secret until next Thursday?
Founder of http://www.sfgamnation.com Favorite Steel: 1. Maverick 2. The Incredible Hulk 3. Millennium Force Favorite Wood: 1. Outlaw Run 2. The Beast 3. American Eagle
I will go with no name reveal tonight. However I think we will get a way better view of the layout and exactly how the coaster will sit on that land. We will more than likely also find out exactly who is manufacturing the ride. Just like with most other zoning meetings the typical response for a name is "we are still working on it". Although with all the clues we have seen so far I will go with the obvious of it being named Goliath. It would be the most logical and easiest thing for Six Flags to do. They wouldn't have to file any new trademarks and could use shirts and everything else with the logo that are already made. Kind of disappointing because I was hoping for a completely new name with completely new merchandise.
GoBears wrote:I've never been to one of these zoning meetings before but do you think they will announce the name tonight or keep that secret until next Thursday?
The meeting is about height variance. If someone on the board asks the name he probably will say it will be announced next week. This isn't Nocoastercon, it's a board meeting that is pretty boring. I hope people aren't making it out to be more than it is.
99% of the Gurnee residents that do throw out the backlash fail to realize that we already had a coaster in this spot. Not only that I highly doubt this new one will make anymore noise than anything else in the park. The age old adage. Give people something to complain about and they will. Even if there is no reason to.
GoBears wrote:I've never been to one of these zoning meetings before but do you think they will announce the name tonight or keep that secret until next Thursday?
The meeting is about height variance. If someone on the board asks the name he probably will say it will be announced next week. This isn't Nocoastercon, it's a board meeting that is pretty boring. I hope people aren't making it out to be more than it is.
I didn't think they would share the ride's name, I was just asking. I've seen Chang's meeting on YouTube and it was rather funny to watch. We will still know more about the ride tonight like the layout and such over at Wolf's spot. The park has to give some details to present to the board otherwise this meeting would be useless. Well, technically the meeting sort of is pointless because we know they will approve the park anyways but they still have to explain some stuff about the ride in front of the board and local residents.
Founder of http://www.sfgamnation.com Favorite Steel: 1. Maverick 2. The Incredible Hulk 3. Millennium Force Favorite Wood: 1. Outlaw Run 2. The Beast 3. American Eagle
[jonrev] wrote:If it hasn't been mentioned earlier: if you can't be at the meeting tonight you can watch it live here, or by searching for the show "SFGAmZone" on your mobile device's USTREAM app.
Will it also be on YouTube for anyone who can't watch it at that time?
