Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Trailered-trains vs non-trailered


Recommended Posts

Hello all, (I apologize in advance if this should be in another forum, this one seemed to fit the bill best IMO).

 

I have a fairly simple mechanically-related question which pertains to roller coaster-train layouts.

 

I was hoping someone here, either a mechanic, or just a coaster lover could explain, in detail, how "Trailered"-trains vary from non-trailered trains, as far as the chassis, wheel/axle assembly, layout, and any other significant differences. I have not been able to find anything on Google, or elsewhere which explains this in any detail. The best I could find was a super old, archived thread on "Coasterbuzz" where someone asked this exact question, however, none of the links posted still exist. All a got as far a a description is "It means that the front of each car has no wheels; rather, the front of each car rests on the (back end) wheel assembly of the car in front of it."

 

So based on what I can gather from the above sentence, I'm guessing this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennywood#mediaviewer/File:KW-Phantom%27s_Revenge.jpg , would be trailered and this: http://www.coasterimage.com/valleyfair-pictures/ , would be a non-trailered train, right?

 

If any of the awesome peeps on this forum can help me understand this better, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited by TCSCskater
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 15
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

^I didn't know what was the technical term and I not an engineer (yet) but those pictures look correct. Hence why many Trailered-trains have a "zero car", usually just a set of wheels before the first car, because that first car has to rest on its own wheels (in the back) and something ahead of it. For instance, kumba's trains:

Kumba_at_Busch_Gardens_Tampa.thumb.JPG.68db729919556006136b88f9728fa0fa.JPG

There are also some cases where it is the other way round, where the trains rest on the set of wheels behind it, meaning there is a "car-less" set of wheels in the back, like on arrow loopers:

CorkscrewFirstHill.jpg.a452221cbdd41ed0fa52d4be97439a46.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it sounds like you got the jist of it. What trailering does for trains is it allows for them to take up less space, and in some cases make sharper turns and banks. There was only one issue. They ate up the track like crazy, especially on wooden coasters.

 

A good example is Predator at Darien Lake, or Raging Wolf Bobs at the defunct Geauga Lake. If you watched the trains closely, they would shuffle from side to side, making the ride painful, and tearing up the track. The Wolf Bobs are now closed, but in 2010, Darien Lake decided to remove the trailered trains. They were replaced with normal articulated trains previously used on the Voyage. Now the ride runs a lot smoother and is easier on the track.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^^You sort of answered your own question.

 

Most manufactures make a train design that has 1 wheel assembly per car with the exception of the front car which has the additional wheel assembly up front.

 

Millennium Force Front car w/ 2 sets of wheel assemblies, 1 of which being a pilot car:

 

Non-Front cars with 1 set of wheel assemblies:

Source

 

Arrows use "zero-cars." Same principal, just reversed.

 

Source: TPR Park Index

 

 

 

Source

Edited by DJeXeL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Continuing off of what RCJP posted, we can delve into the pro's and con's of trailered coaster trains. A trailered train will have just one set of wheels on every car except the zero car, which could either be the first car (GCI's Millennium flyers for example) or the last car (Arrow Dynamics looper trains) This is beneficial for two main reasons:

1. Having one set of wheels per train improves comfort and smoothness of the ride considerably, as it increases the distance between the car couplings and the wheel assembly. In essence, a trailered train operates with the minimum set of wheels necessary to constrain all non-desired degrees of freedom. (Think of the car as a see-saw. A trailered train pivots forward and backwards on its wheel assembly, and is kept level by the coupling in front. In contrast non-trailered trains are kept level by the additional set of road wheels at the front, in addition to the coupling between cars) By removing this redundancy, the train can better conform to the shape of the track, and will give a smoother ride. One of the cars must be non-articulating to constrain the pitch of the rest of the train however, this is what RCJP refers to as a ‘zero-car.’

2. Trailered trains offer improved articulation compared to non-trailed equivalents, allowing more extreme track maneuvers, while simultaneously reducing wear and tear on track and train components. It’s often said that PTC trains ‘tear up’ a wooden coaster faster than other trains, and there is quite a bit of truth to this. PTC coaster trains are non-articulating, and the additional wheel assemblies cause additional wear and tear on the track. The front wheels may come off and slam back down at points during the ride, and this ‘bouncing’ creates areas of high stress and can even cause pitting of the track over time. It’s this ‘bouncing’ that contributes most to the reduced ride quality given by non-trailered trains.

Cons: This is a real stretch, but one potential con of trailered trains is reduced mechanical redundancy. The Mindbender at Galaxyland suffered a terrible accident in 1986, where missing bolts in the wheels assembly caused a mechanical failure, resulting in derailment of the last car. The cars were modified from the original trailered design to non- trailered after the incident, the hope being that the additional wheel assemblies would create a backup in the event of a failure. It should be noted that this entire tragedy was the result of improper maintenance and inspection of the coaster trains prior to operation.

 

Hope this helped!

-Helix123

 

Note: I'm not even going into steering wheel assemblies, That's another beast entirely. And the wall of text would be scary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot to add that some trailered trains may not have this "zero car" (^it not actually my expression, I heard someone else using it before ) such as many B&M ones, like inverts, In this case the first two cars don't articulate, they are just able to twist laterally meaning that even though each car still only has one set of wheels, the non articulation of the first two enables it to ditch the "zero car". In these pictures you can see how the first two cars are not articulating, unlike the rest.

2984.jpg.17446bc97a4d4d45eaa25a1e82298900.jpg

Batman_The_Ride_at_Six_Flags_Great_America_1.thumb.jpg.6056dc3cc07e1a30b90fbabd56771758.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, thanks for the quick replies. All of your input and photos were quite helpful, and definitely helped me gain a better understanding, as well as helped me construct a much better mental-image of both type of trains stripped down, so to speak (hey, a good coaster is sexy thing to me

0

Helix123- Ironically, the non-trailered photo I posted (Wild Thing) was involved in an incident in 2006, which I witnessed from less the 50 feet away (We were next in line and would has waiting to get in front on that exact train). The 5th and 6th(back) cars decoupled, and the 6th derailed, before coming to a stop, and tilting at a 45 degree on its side (not sure which proceeded which, as it happened so fast that it appeared to be simultaneous). Luckily, there were somehow only minor injuries, but more than likely serious mental-scars. Point in case, I still have an aversion to the back car on that ride, and just waiting in line for it gives me an overall unsettled feeling (and I only witnessed it). Subsequent investigation revealed that a "faulty" mounting-bracket was to blame. I assume that the mounting bracket they were referring to was for a proxy-switch, or for part of the brake system, considering it occurred on the ending brake-run.

 

Anyways, thought I would share that, as the manner in which the train derailed sounds similar to the Mindbender accident which you mentioned. I wonder how the incident on Wild Thing would have played out had it been a trailered-train.

 

PS: In case anyone's curious, there's a bunch more info on the Wild Thing derailment in the official Valley-Fair theme park thread, mostly pages 1-15. Thanks again for your guys''s input.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^Wild Thing's accident was due to a mechanical failure on the trains wheel assembly.

 

I know a mounting-bracket on the brake run was what the week or so long investigation claimed was the root-cause of the accident. However, they didn't know why the bracket was failed in the first place. The sum of the details which was released to the public seemed annoyingly vague, as they often do with theme-park accidents in general.

 

The way that the train and detached rear-car came to sit on the track was odd to me. With the rear car coming to a halt about 15-20 feet behind the rest of the intact train, and the fifth cars rear axle (which they claimed is what came in contact with the loose, or somehow misaligned mounting bracket, causing the rear car to derail) laying on the tracks another 10 to 20 feet behind the rear-car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

For whatever reason I never thought or knew that about the B&M inverts!

 

Also, very strange that Morgan wouldn't use the trailered trains on Wild Thing. Searching around a bit, Desperado, and reputably rough as hell coaster (from personal experience as well) also does not have trailered trains.

 

One question: I don't think I've ever been on a Morgan coaster, but they seem poorly designed, over-engineered support wise, and have clunky POV's with little to no airtime. The rides that come to mind are Steel Dragon and Mamba.

 

Is Morgan done as far as coasters? Are they out of business? Doing a quick Wiki search it looks like they've done nothing since 2004? With coaster companies like B&M and Intamin around, I really wonder why some parks would have gone with Morgan when they seemed so technologically behind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it really matters that much weather a ride use trailered trains or non-trailered train *ride experience wise*. But for trailered train, the stress on the linkage is huge compared to those on non-trailered trains. But trailered trains requires much less wheels and wheel assemblies so maintenance would likely to cost less. For example, a 6-car old style Premier train uses 144 wheels while a 6-car Intamin hyper coaster train only uses 84 wheels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, very strange that Morgan wouldn't use the trailered trains on Wild Thing. Searching around a bit, Desperado, and reputably rough as hell coaster (from personal experience as well) also does not have trailered trains.

 

Morgan didn't produce trailered trains as far as I know. I know the three Morgan hypers in the US all use the same style of trains (six seater, in two abreast)

 

One question: I don't think I've ever been on a Morgan coaster, but they seem poorly designed, over-engineered support wise, and have clunky POV's with little to no airtime.

 

I feel Morgan is kinda like Arrow V2 (a lot of Morgan people were ex-arrow) no, their coasters are far from perfect, but using the tech available at the time, they did the best they could.

 

Is Morgan done as far as coasters? Are they out of business? Doing a quick Wiki search it looks like they've done nothing since 2004? With coaster companies like B&M and Intamin around, I really wonder why some parks would have gone with Morgan when they seemed so technologically behind.

 

B&M didn't make their first hyper until 1999 (Apollos Chariot) Morgan built their first hyper in 1996. In my opinion at the time, Morgan, Arrow and Intamin were doing the best they could given tech at the time. If you look at Darien Lakes Ride of Steel it's closer to a Morgan or Arrow hyper than say, a B&M hyper. As ZeroGravity55 said, D.H Morgan merged into Chance Rides in 2001.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's amazing how much better tailored trains (non-PTC) work on wooden coasters, yet almost every single larger example has non-trailored(double-axle).

Tailored trains typically have a higher capacity and lower maintenance costs. Take a typical GCI coaster with 12 cars which can seat a total of 24 people and has 78 wheels. A PTC 5-car 6 seater can hold 30 people and only has 60 wheels and fewer moving parts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/