Hybrids

[TechnoWraith]

Still can't beat the all-time coaster gripe of the century:

Gemini at Cedar Point is NOT a wooden coaster.

The Great White at Wildwood New Jersey is NOT a steel coaster.

What I'm getting at is people often don't realize that a coaster's type is determined by the track the trains run on.

Some examples:

Millenium Force, Raptor and Mantis (All at Cedar Point in Ohio) are all Steel coasters. They all run on a steel track.

Meanstreak (Cedar Point), Beast (King's Island) and Son of Beast (King's Island) are all wooden coasters. They all run on wooden a track.

A little more info before I go on.

The Superstructure of a coaster comprises all the components required to support the track - all the columns, trusswork, trestles, towers, and what-have-you.

The track is the component that the train runs on. It is built on top of the Superstructure (well, in the case of steel inversion coasters, that technically not true since the superstructure is built around the track to support it during the inversions).

Though they are two seperate components, just about everyone refers to them as a single unit ("the Roller Coaster").

Back to my "complaint".

The fly in the ointment here is what I call "Hybrids." Hybrids are coasters that comprise one track type, but are built on a different superstructure. The two exmples cited at the top of the post are perfect examples.

Gemini runs on a steel track built on a wooden superstructure.

The Great White runs on a wooden track built on a steel superstructure.

Why on earth couldn't they just build them the traditional way? All this hybrid stuff is too confusing to the general public. However unless your completely coaster-savvy, the general public really won't notice the difference anyway. So we might be able just get away with not telling anyone anything and save everybody alotta grief.

Edited August 16, 2004 by TalonRider

[TalonRider]

I myself don't consider a coaster with a steel structure and wood track, or a coaster with a wood structure and steel track, a hybrid. Here is an example of a HYBRID. Silver Dollar City in Branson Missouri has a ride, and I don't remember the name right now, that starts out as a Water ride, changes to a COASTER with steel track, then changes back to the WATER ride.

So is it a water ride or a coaster? To me, it is neither one. To some, it would be both. To me it's a hybrid because it combines two different rides into one.

Parks will build what they can afford. It was Custom Coasters International (CCI) that offered the steel structure, wood track coaster design to parks. The Great White, in Wildwood, N.J. and The Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach, Monticello, IN, both have this type coaster and were built because both these parks wanted a wood coaster but didn't have the room for the massive wooded structure. I know, I've been to both parks.

[TalonRider]

Plus, something else to consider Peter, is that unlike you and me, the general public doesn't know the things we do. I know this to be true just by listening to them while standing in line. Another point to this is the multiple coaster websites that the general public goes to. I belong to one such site and I must say, I seen some pretty go crap floating around there.

I started the coaster threads to try and enlighten the members here and the visitors that stop in to visit and are interested enough to read about coasters. I appreciate any comments to the articles and will respond to questions or comments.

And by the way, as Admin, I moved this topic to its own thread since it did not belong with coaster trains.

Jan

ps

Pat, how's this for a highjacking? I moved it to its own spot Shock 1