Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[aCoasterStory]

The Looping Starship we used to have at SFoG only had lapbars & went upside-down.

 

Are you confusing that Starship with Mind Bender or Dare Devil Dive? I've never seen a looping starship with just a lap restraints. (Now I'm thinking of the old Ring Of Fire carnival rides. Good memories!)

 

I only ever rode it once, and all I really remember about it was the hydraulic lap restraints that clamped down super tight. I couldn't find any great pictures, but it's entirely likely that it had OTSR's as well.

[jedimaster1227]

https://twitter.com/SFGreat_America/status/436226409015414786/photo/1

 

The new #goliath keeps getting taller and taller!

[rcjp]

Looking good, but I'm still finding the fact that the track is painted orange/red/whatever quite weird. As someone here as mentioned, the GP will probably think it is the same as RMC's -box coasters.

[tribar]

Looking good, but I'm still finding the fact that the track is painted orange/red/whatever quite weird. As someone here as mentioned, the GP will probably think it is the same as RMC's -box coasters.

 

I doubt that the GP even knows what that means.

[Lareson]

I'm not quite sure why they're deciding to paint the track steel orange. It's going to be only orange for maybe the first week the coaster starts running. After that, it's going to get covered in steel dust and graphite, and it's going to be worse once it rains too.

[GoBears]

The orange is only the very top part of the topper track, not the entire steel on top of the wood. Hopefully it doesn't wear too poorly.

[GayCoasterGuy]

I'm not quite sure why they're deciding to paint the track steel orange. It's going to be only orange for maybe the first week the coaster starts running. After that, it's going to get covered in steel dust and graphite, and it's going to be worse once it rains too.

 

Good It will look "once pretty but now dirty and rough" like a roller coaster is supposed to look.

 

(And then we have B&M rides. Which always look the same. Best of both worlds!)

[Lareson]

Having worked on a wooden coaster, it's not a clean environment compared to a steel coaster. The trains can go from their original color to be coated in a brown dust in just a day after cleaning. Not sure how the RMC train wheels wear down the track steel compared to a PTC train, as Outlaw Run is currently the only coaster running the trains, but can imagine that they still cause wear with steel wheels on steel track.

 

The track steel are the steel pieces that the wheels touch, so that's what I mean by track steel, don't mean the whole Toppler track. That's why I still consider the Toppler Track coasters as wooden coasters, since a majority of the coaster's track is still wood, just has the top 2 layers replaced by the steel/concrete beams.

[Blue Turbo]

^Goliath will by running with polyurethane wheels not steel ones

[_koppen]

I didn't know they were going with the I-box color for the track, looks cool!

[thedirtyspaniard]

^Goliath will by running with polyurethane wheels not steel ones

 

I was waiting for someone to say this...

I don't see what the problem with having orange/red rails will be. Yes, currently they stand out a bit and might not look as nice, but you've got to remember that when you look at pictures of the coaster -- It's winter. The red stands out so much because there's no background color besides white/grey -- also the wood is wet and hasn't really shown it's true nice golden brown color yet.

[DanTheBooker]

Don't forget the original Goliath at Magic Mountain. Also, didn't Fiesta Texas name their Batman clone Goilath?

 

Yes, there's a Goliath at SFMM, SFOG, SFFT, SFNE, and now SFGAm. I think I got them all.

And they are all different types of coasters.... That's the crazy part!

[Koasterking48]

They'd better slap some paint on Iron Wolf's old station, because it is sure showing its age!

[tribar]

They'd better slap some paint on Iron Wolf's old station, because it is sure showing its age!

Not to mention it's still Iron Wolfs colors. I wish they would build a new station IW's is so cramped. You enter from the side and you can't get past the people waiting for the front row

[GoBears]

They'd better slap some paint on Iron Wolf's old station, because it is sure showing its age!

 

If they stick to their plan, they said they are completely remodeling the station which will include Roman columns, facia molding, wooden trellis, and some others things. Sorry, the image is rather hard to see but I had to take a screenshot of a video clip because there's not an official photo that has been released to the public of this yet.

 

[thrillrider]

I am curious what that is inside of the track?

 

Do you see the two little metal rods?

[Dr. M]

^They're heating elements to keep the track from icing over.

 

[/misinformation]

[GoBears]

I wonder how the restraints are going to be. I know the style will be like Outlaw Run's, but I wonder if they will have issues with larger guests like OR had after the adjustments.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

^They're heating elements to keep the track from icing over.

 

[/misinformation]

 

LOL, sounds good to me!

[thedirtyspaniard]

I wonder how the restraints are going to be. I know the style will be like Outlaw Run's, but I wonder if they will have issues with larger guests like OR had after the adjustments.

 

I'm gonna go ahead and say the restraints will look almost exactly if not exactly like this:

(From SFGAm Facebook Page)

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

The park's Facebook page is showing some new concept art...looks interesting. I grabbed one of the pics and put it here.

New structuring on lift and second inversion.

[sfgam#1]

That new lift hill structure looks crazy

 

 

To be honest I did expect some type of change. Mostly because this winter has been god awful and the original lift looked like it would take some time, especially if they're trying to open this thing by memorial day.

Edited February 21, 2014 by sfgam#1

[coasterbill]

That looks awesome... I'm thinking that lift structure has to be steel right?

[Lareson]

Woah, guess that would be why construction on the lift hasn't started as that's normally the first part of a coaster to go up. With that design, that could be the answer to making wooden coasters reach the 200 foot mark again and so we don't end up with another Son of Beast. Really liking that new design! And yes, the structure is steel. It should go up really quick once it gets started.

 

Oh, looking at the IAAPA images, I see now the Goliath trains are using poly wheels. Well, guess that would be why they're able to paint the track steel and then they won't have to worry about that steel dust and applying graphite to the track. Oh well. Guess this is going to be the start of blurring the lines between a wooden and steel coaster.

[Lightning9SX]

I am curious what that is inside of the track?

 

Do you see the two little metal rods?

 

I would guess it's rebar, since they fill the track with cement.