Quite a fascinating article, and as a "wood" guy I'm of course delighted that there are efforts to keep wooden coasters in working order vs being RMCed or <gasp> demolished.
It's particularly exciting to see real economic benefits of this technology vs just ride improvement. Expenses associated with upkeep are the death knell of many wooden coasters, so anything that extends periods between retracking sounds like an amazing selling point.
From the list pointed out in the article I don't *think* I've had the opportunity to ride any with vertical track improvements (though it looks like I missed some by only a year or two!)
Holiday World has always done a fabulous job keeping their 3 in great shape, so it's no surprise those are 3 of my favorite woodies in the world. Riding The Voyage at night during the Holiwood Nights event has never been topped as a coaster experience for me. Here's hoping I can get back out there at some point soon to experience it again!
Agreed that TGG's vertical track solution ticks a lot of boxes--not the least of which is that it retains the coaster’s wood essence. I have not experienced any of the refurbed rides either (nor have I been on any Titan Track makeovers), but I too look forward to checking it out.
Quite a fascinating article, and as a "wood" guy I'm of course delighted that there are efforts to keep wooden coasters in working order vs being RMCed or <gasp> demolished.
It's particularly exciting to see real economic benefits of this technology vs just ride improvement. Expenses associated with upkeep are the death knell of many wooden coasters, so anything that extends periods between retracking sounds like an amazing selling point.
From the list pointed out in the article I don't *think* I've had the opportunity to ride any with vertical track improvements (though it looks like I missed some by only a year or two!)
Holiday World has always done a fabulous job keeping their 3 in great shape, so it's no surprise those are 3 of my favorite woodies in the world. Riding The Voyage at night during the Holiwood Nights event has never been topped as a coaster experience for me. Here's hoping I can get back out there at some point soon to experience it again!
Agreed that TGG's vertical track solution ticks a lot of boxes--not the least of which is that it retains the coaster’s wood essence. I have not experienced any of the refurbed rides either (nor have I been on any Titan Track makeovers), but I too look forward to checking it out.
Thanks for a great explanation about how this is all works. What a cool innovation!
Thanks for the kind words Sue. Agreed that it is a cool solution to a pesky problem.