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Track Work On Beast Photos


BoddaH1994
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I agree. On a personal note I measured my son the other day, and he will fit on FOC this year. Can't wait to ride it with him. B)

I'm resisting the urge to measure GatorGirl. I want to be surprised on April 18th. We did measure her in December, without shoes, and she was 39¼", so she'll probably be 40" in shoes by then... tall enough for FOC, VF, and Danny Phantom Flyers!

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I love The Beast, it is one of my favorite coasters and IS my favorite wooden coaster. I love how it can sometime beat you around a little bit and at other times can make you fell out of control. Now the final helix is one of my favorite finales and i love it because it is so hectic inside that tunnel. With this new track i am assuming that the ride will make it much smoother. So therefore removing the feeling of being out of control in the final tunnel. To me I wish they would keep it to where it is rougher. Now the general public does not think so. They like the smoother rides. So KI has really hit a home run with this idea and i am sure that The Beast will thrill all that many more fans this year. Happy big 3-0 Big Guy!!

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sadly...i haven't ridden The Beast in 10 years. so this year i plan on riding it as much as i can simply to make up for lost time. i imagine a good chunk of my time in the park this year will be spent on the ride or in line to ride it. its awesome to see those pictures and realize the park isn't neglecting everything else for Diamondback. woo im excited!

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Looking good! Now if they would only remove that trim brake before the second drop that used to deliver a wallop of airtime!

I believe this is the best post in the whole thread at the moment, so I'll bump it up some more. I don't think I need to say anything about my opinion on this notion, as you already know how I feel. ;) TS.102

I'll be excited to see just how much work has been done on The Beast. I've been thinking...it has hurt...but I think I may have to keep tradition and begin my KI season on The Beast like normal. It's too painful not to do so. I'll hit Diamondback toward the end of ERT, but I'm certainly not going to miss it!

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I just want to point out something in that photograph - Diamondback should not be the only roller coaster at Kings Island that you look forward to riding. That is some very extensive work going on, on The Beast there. That wood they're adding to the re-tracked section of the helix there is called Ipe wood. It comes from Brazilian trees and is commonly also used to make patio's and decks. The wood is so tough that you can't hammer in nails by hand, you have to pre drill the holes then hammer in the nails, thats how tough that wood is. Not to mention, KI's Wood Coaster team is top notch in the industry and I'm sure they're doing a great job on this project. I wouldn't be surprised if The Beast gave some of it's best rides in years this coming season. I had the opportunity to meet some of those guys and work with them on a photojournalism project with the help of Mr. Helbig and the park and as this photograph shows....they do a wonderful job on the wood coasters.

Now just out of curiosity, where exactly on The Beast's track are nails used? In the time I worked at The Beast and with everything I learned I was always under the impression that all the "track bolts" that hold the track portion of the ride together are just that; bolts. I remember bins and bins of different size bolts; anywhere from 8" all the way to 24". You always have to drill a hole for a bolt.

Now Gordon I know you do have actual hands on experience with wood coaster maintainence so I really am asking where nails are used. I know they're used in different areas of the structure; but where are nails used in the track. After all, the layers of wood in the track HAVE to act as one, something that I would believe could only be done with bolts, as bolts dont actually require friction against the shaft to be a fastener. In the morning when they're hitting the bolt heads back into the track, they're simply making sure that there aren't any bolt heads that are going to hit the wheel's on the first test run as that could be very damaging to the wheels.

Still I find it quite interesting that they're going with a different type of wood. It will be interesting to see how this affects the ride. After all if the structure is too stiff and does not give enough it could make it more rough.

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I think the more rigid the ride the less rough it would be. I am not sure but steel is more rigid than wood and it gives a much nicer ride most of the time.

This is true, however keep in mind that on a modern steel coaster the train is bound to the track (all wheel's are touching the track at all times). Where on a wood coaster only one side wheel will be touching a rail at a time, and the under wheel's only engage if the road wheel's actually leave the track. It seem's to me that when you go from a quick left turn to a quick right turn or when the train shakes back and forth bouncing off of the side rails and you go from one side wheel hitting the rail to the other, you're going to want the structure to give, otherwise you might as well be hitting a concrete wall..

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Delorean Rider, thanks for your question and I understand. I guess "nail" is not exactly the best term to use. As you pointed out, the holes for the bolts do always have to be pre-drilled. I guess in this case I meant to refer to that if you were building a deck, your holes for nails would have to be pre-drilled. Like you said, on a wood coaster requiring layers, you would need bolts ranging in various sizes. . On Ipe wood you can't use the typical handheld drill, much larger drills are brought in to drill through it or often times they will even bring in boards of IPE and use a drill press. On Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir, the typical Dewalt hand drill's were fine in some cases and at some lengths, but IPE often requires a drill press to be used in a shop before going out on the track.

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