Coaster Roughness

[pgathriller]

What causes a roller coaster to get rough. What type of regular maintanence do theme parks do to the coasters to keep them smooth running. I hear people say that at the beggining of the season they run pretty smooth but later on down the season they start getting rough. I rode the Tennessee Tornadoe at Dolywood the first week of the season in 2004 and it was one of the smoothest coaster I have ever rode. Then I hear people say how rough it is. Does weather play a part of coaster roughness. I know some company's coasters are already rough- (Vekoma ) - but still some are smooth. I am just curious about this. Help me out.

[phazan]

im not sure but my guess would be the wheels on the coaster start to loosen up over time and that causes the wheels to hit the track a lot while the coaster is running.

i have noticed on a lot of rough and old coasters that the bottom wheels arent even spinning because they arent touching the track.

[SonOfBeastSucks]

Whenever someone who has once worked at a fast food place rides a coaster, it gets a little rougher, and after enough of them ride it, it is very rough.

[Blazen_AZN]

^^ well in that case some fat asses definately rode viper today!

 

yeargh...

[Wes]

Posting threads about it.

[trustkill22]

Many things can cause coaster roughness like poor design with the transitions not layed out well too the trains wheel assemblys being plain awful with bad axels and what not. And im not sure with weather but I know weather effects the speed of the train.

[WalrusMan]

Look, Vekomas aren't rough. It's not a proven fact, but how can some Vekomas be smooth and some be rough? Some of the older Vekomas are still smooth while newer installations are rough as they can be. All roughness is caused by either a. Bad Transitions, which can be found on any and all types of coasters, or b. Bad Maintenence, which can be found at any negligent park.

[phazan]

b. Bad Maintenence, which can be found at any negligent park.

 

it looks like you just answered your own question.

[ncf]

im not sure but my guess would be the wheels on the coaster start to loosen up over time and that causes the wheels to hit the track a lot while the coaster is running.

i have noticed on a lot of rough and old coasters that the bottom wheels arent even spinning because they arent touching the track.

I think you're right

[Blazen_AZN]

^^ then how come they cant just get new trains to fix the roughness?

 

it has to do with the track...

 

and you cant say a ride id rough because of parks neglect, because them negecting it will cause somthing to happen to the ride that will make it riugh.. you just have to find out what that somthing is....

[arrowfanman]

I think there is no wrong answer here. To me, I think its a relationship between the trains, the track, and how often the two are serviced.

 

-The track: For one, you have issues with rides that have very simple geometry. For example Viper, at SFMM. It looks as if they literally calculated the shape of the loop, calculated the height of the entrance to the loop, and then just "connected the dots". Its not like a B&M, which eases into a loop---Viper just "BAM" your in a loop!

 

Then, you have a design flaw noticible on the older coasters--no heartlining. Older rides (and still some new ones) are designed around the track, not the passenger. This is bad for two reasons. One, the passenger ends up getting more whipped around. Two, it tosses the train around more than necessary, which wears out the trains quicker (and the track for that matter).

 

Which leads us to another track reason...track deformations may have a part in it--this is more common on wood coasters, as the beams can splinter or crack under the various forces (this phonomena also falls under park maintenence... ).

 

 

-The trains: Trains also share a part in the bumpiness. The wheels have to be able to bend, tilt, and twist into a wide variety of different positions to conform to the twists and turns of the track. B&M is obviously the king of this, as each row conforms in its own way. It also helps to have all wheels touching and rolling on the track, so, in case of an ejection or something, the movement will not be as abrupt.

 

And as weird as this sounds, I personally believe that the seats are a big part of this too! The seat needs to be flexible, but firm enough to combat the forces. The position in how you sit is important to how your body is able to take a bump. And of course, how the restraint is shaped, and how you wear it matters too. B&M restraints may be massive, but they distribute the force over a farther area than a simple lapbar does!

 

-Service and Maintenence: No matter how smooth the coaster, if not serviced properly, it will fall into disrepair, and that means, it will get bumpier. As I said, it is easy for a wood coaster's track to deform or crack. Therefore, retracking (and even restructuring) must occur, or else the ride will get bumpier.

 

The trains and wheels also need to be serviced. Wheels can wear down, which means they lose their elasticity which act as small shock absorbers. After throwing the trains through thousands of cycles, it is easy to see how all of the moving parts can weaken, bend, and fall into disrepair. The best example of this, is X at SFMM. You can tell when was the most recent train-refurbishment by how much the seats "droop" or "sag". They do, I swear! Im no engineer, but that's telling me that something's lose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But in all seriousness, the largest factor is whether the passenger has testicles or not.

 

-Jahan

[ncf]

I don't think it has to do with the track, I think the reason is the the metal holding the wheels bends as the trains goes through the track hundrets of times every day, and after some years some of the wheels doesn't even touch the track anymore...

[Jose Eber]

Anyone told the story as a kid not to put change on railroad rails because trains can derail? One set of wheels jumps over the quarter, nicks the steel, the next set make the nick bigger -- and it continues over and over...

 

Maybe this happens with coasters? Maybe crap gets on the track and gets ground into the rail. Maybe the wheels get nasty. Maybe the wheels get loose.

 

A few things I've noticed about coaster wheels.

 

Wheels are rarely bought new after the train gets old. The wheels are retread.

[olimonn]

At least on vekomas, I know that even on the opening day they, the upstop and side wheels never touch the track on a straight segment. I guess it because it's cheaper to calculate so that all wheels touch, plus when all wheels touch the track you have to put some extra elastic material to make sure they can handle the track smoothly even when the track is rather twisty...

 

I don't think woodies have their upstop wheels touching either but I'm not sure of that... But rouchness on woodies is mainly caused by the fact that is not an industrialized track, but a somewhat artisanal track that is put down and shaped by hand... so there are probably more flaws that on a industrialized track. There's also the issue of the screws, because wooden coasters structure naturally move a lot, and it's mainly the metallic screws that have to support this movement, and lie every metallic thing, after being moved a lot, it breaks... And there is one of the maintenance roll: replacing broken screws (particularily on the tracks). If this job is not done, the coaster will vibrate more and more and become rougher and rougher...

[Spideyfreak]

The problem on most wood coasters is shuffling.(sp?)

 

Basic idea: There are 4 guide wheels on a wood coaster car. There are 2 in the front and 2 in the back. When the first car of the train hits a curve that is banked one of the front wheels hits the guide rail and bounces off until the wheel on the other side catches it, then that wheel does the same thing as the first. What happens is that it creates a rapid side to side movement on turns throughout the whole train, giving you the rough feeling.

 

 

Rides with 2 guide wheels on each axle are not as rough (and if they are it is the the track).

 

Basic idea: (This one is kind of hard to explain) When the train comes to a curve, one of the guide wheels hits the rail but the wheel behind it also hits the rail. This prevents shuffling, giving a smooth ride.

 

Roughness can also be caused by a poor track design such as no heartlining or, on wood coasters, poor track maintenance. But usually it's caused by shuffling.

[rjholla2003]

Coaster roughness pretty much boils down to design, age, and maintenance. Maintenance will keep the coaster smooth longer since you're replacing worn wheels, axels, and track. Age will affect it since after a while, the coaster will succumb to the stresses that are placed on it every day through use. The wear and tear on the track will play a part in how smooth the track is. Same goes for the trains. Design comes into play with the older Vekoma and Arrow models. These coasters aren't so much rough as they are brutal. For example, Great American Scream Machine @ Great Adventure isn't a rough coaster. In fact, when it's in the middle of a turn, going through a hill, or some other relatively straight section, it's really not rough at all. But, because of poor design with the lack of heartlining, the transitions are horrible. Every turn and twist jars the train, and people call that roughness, even though it's not.

[MonkeyPants]

Square wheels!

[socalMAN123]

^LOL!!!

 

I think that causes coaster roughness is the frickin companies who make them!

Brent "wow, I just posted something that relates to Wes!" Shenton 8)

[Dude]

Square wheels!

 

Yeah those are the worst. But all the reasons have been mentioned: Maintaince, age, the wheels. Pretty much anything can effect a coasters quality of ride.

[rollermonkey]

Coaster roughness pretty much boils down to design, age, and maintenance.

 

Now THAT is a simple and accurate way to describe the answer to the original question!

 

A coaster either starts out rough or it doesn't. That's design.

 

As the coaster ages depending on the materials used and original design tolerances, it either gets rough quickly or slowly.

 

Maintenance can prevent some or all of this tendency to become rougher depending on quality of replacement parts and skill of the maintanence personnel.

 

Holla, you sly dog!

[coasterlover420]

It's all in your minds and the coasters are really glass smooth!!

 

JK I think it is the way it is put together. The erectors have to weld every bit of track in perfectly. Or it's just the designer (i.e. Mantis)

[Eagle Rider]

Any responsible park checks the coaster tracks and trains daily. Both undergo rioutine maintenance. Trains should receive routine wheel maintenance and wheel changes, just like we change tires on our cars. Wooden coasters also need to be retracked every few years, especially in spots where extensive force is placed on the tracks. Just as we sometimes neglect our needed car maintenance, parks are operating on a budget and spend money where they see fit. The more they opt to spend on coaster maintemance, the smoother the ride. It's all about priorities.

[coasterlover420]

^but roughness could be caused by the slightest track deformity not visible to the human eye. Roller coasters don't have shocks, you know.

[DATman]

^^^he said erectors! *giggle*

 

 

 

The just want to be rough. So, in the middle of the night, they are visited by the roughness fairy, and poof! they're rough.

[slick]

Actually, alot of modern Vekoma roller-coasters (the ones with outer-clamping wheel assemblies) do have suspension attached the guide and upstop tyres. The following, from experience (yes, I've played with coaster tyres and stuff before) is a list, in descending order of things that will crucially play a part in a coaster's overall ride:

 

1) Design. Like what someone smart in this thread said, if a coaster isn't heartlined or better yet, isn't heartlined "properly" than this will cause problems to riders, the wheel assembly and the track. Take the Cyclone at Dreamworld for example, it's not heartlined, and it's as rough as guts.

 

2)Maintenance. Repair and upkeep can determine the long term ride-time of a coaster. Another good example is at Dreamworld, with a coaster called the Thunderbolt. It only last 23 years before it was knocked down because the park in its early stages didn't maintain the catwalks on the ride, and the rust and instability of the catwalks spread to the rest of the track, causing huge rough patches throughout the ride. Also, it was designed to be like a wooden coaster, with no heartlining what so ever, but that's category one anyway.

 

3)Wheel assembly. Like all good things, a difference between an inner clamping mechanism (like most Vekomas and Arrows) or an outer clamping assembly (like B&M) can play a fairly crucial role in how a coaster glides through a track. A big reason why B&M's coasters are so smooth is that each wheel assembly is it's own pivotal point, compared to Vekoma's designs which was basically two sets of wheel assemblies joined by the trains, giving no individual movement and therefore if there was a imperfect guide in the design it would cause heaps of friction, causing wear and tear.

 

4)Seat design. Big factor here actually. A seat and restraint design can ultimately determine whether a not when the ride is smooth, the rider is still comfortable. Take Ride Trade free-fall rides for example. The later generation seating was both comfortable, minimal and soft. Some of the best and comfortable seating on a ride IMO.

 

And there's only a smill list of things. Things like loose upstop wheels, friction brakes causing trains to stop too fast etc. etc. can all cause big problems in a smooth ride.