Handrails for woodies

[verticalzero]

Do wooden coaster really need to have a "Handrail" either side of the track, the "Blue Streak" at Conneaut Lake Park runs with only the right hand side handrail.

 

All of the modern coasters have 2 Handrails.

 

Is this down to the designer to choose 1 or 2 Handrails..?

[Scaparri]

I think two is just the standard nowadays. It's just easier to have two for daily track inspections and any time a train may stop or valley in the middle of the course so that you have to have a walk down with guests. But to answer your question, I imagine it's up to the designer with input from the park, though I highly doubt we'll ever see a one rail woodie ever again.

[Johnny Upsidedown]

I have allways wanted to see and ride a woodin coaster with out any hand rails. I think it would change the whole ride experience. I know it wont ever happen but I still think it would be cool.

[Guest]

I think it's all for the convenience of maint workers. Back in the Blue Streak days, checks on the coaster were probably done by riding in the front seat while watching the track, as opposed to walking the entire thing like the do now. It's also a small coaster, so it was probably easy to do work on both rails from one side.

 

I think having handrails on both sides play into visuals too, just to help the overall look. But as I said, I think it's in the convenience of the maint workers. A lot of coasters come with steps built into catwalks, extra railings on the handrails, cross platforms, etc. now. None of the old coasters really had this, the only "classics" I can think of with steps installed are Kennywood's woodies (and I'd bet those were added later).

[Musical Pete]

Since woodies require close daily inspection involving a full trackwalk, the rails have to be there for safety (it's VERY rare for a steel coaster to be similarly walked, hence the lack of rails and walkways).

 

Regulations vary from country to country, state to state etc but handrail or technically 'ballustrade' height is set at around 42" by most building regulatory bodies today. Also, some areas stipulate intermediate gaurd rails and toe boards too - a rail halfway down (often substituted by a cable, also used to clip onto) and another at the bottom - this has become pretty much standard practice for pathways and stairways etc, and naturally applies to wood coasters.

 

Structural width is an issue too, barely ever mentioned. Woodies right up until the 1980s tended to have bents/trestles with legs set to 8' centres, causing the possibility of your hand striking structure if you extend it out sideways. Handrail height varied while the 8' bents stayed pretty much unchanged, until the late 80s when new builds were typically made with 9' leg centres. That's why modern woodies get away with smaller, more open cars while older ones tend to have gaurds fitted to their cars to prevent you sticking your arm out the side far enough to break your fingers. Blackpool Pleasure Beach (as then) rebuilt their 1980 Grand National & Big Dipper PTC cars with 6" taller bodywork in 1988 partly to counteract this problem. As an aside, it was also done to make people feel safer with the thigh cracking airtime those coasters give (before lapbars you genuinely had to hold on, my friend and housemate Beck was held down by her collar by her dad as a kid, and your seat on occasion broke as you slammed back down from 8" above) - funny that those designs were so simple, built via guesswork with barely any dynamic calculation, were also built quite poorly and even to this day have no true foundations (wooden footing plates in the sand is all they have, no hint of concrete - the odd one or two even sit right ontop of the ground rather than within - they've got away with it for over 70 years since they're not too high, although the late Pleasureland Cyclone did lose its lift and first drop in the 60s due to a strong wind!), but give arguably some of the best pure shake, rattle & rolling coaster rides in comparison to a lot of mediocre, big, fast but dull modern equivalents.

 

Anyway, building regulations ensuring staff, and on rare occasion public safety (those rare evacuations once every few years), is the reason for the handrails existence and their increased size. PTC used to build with 30" rails and John Allen carried this on into the 70s. With the exception of Skyliner (which appears to have structure even narrower than 8' and handrails closer to 24" high), the remaining Allen coasters have had their rails raised up to a foot (exact amount depending on local building regs). The only one to have its rails widened to 9' centres however is Starliner - they're chopping the legs at ledger level and bolting taller versions to the outside of the old legs. Trouble is with pre existing coasters using the 8' leg centres, the track would have to be shifted across 6' where it runs beside its own structure, such as small return hills up against big out hills on an out & back design. In Starliner's case since it's effectively a new build, they're just widening out the ledgers on the return run to set the track the right distance from the legs.

 

Another anyway:

 

...I'm now off.

[imbordisux]

^

 

Wow... THIS guy knows coasters.