A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
The Scenic Railway is a wooden roller coaster located at the Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, United Kingdom. It first opened in 1920 and is the oldest roller coaster in the UK. The ride is distinctive compared to modern-day roller coasters, as a brakeman is still required to travel with the train to control its speed, manually applying brakes when needed. It is also one of only eight scenic railways in the world, and the UK's English Heritage granted the roller coaster Grade II listed status in 2002 and Grade II* listed status in 2011. The Scenic Railway was non-operational from 2006 until 2015 amid park closure and restoration following an arson attack.
A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track that utilizes some form of brakes to slow or stop a roller coaster train. There are various types of braking methods employed on roller coasters, including friction brakes, skid brakes, and magnetic brakes. The most common is a fin brake, an alternative name for a friction brake, which involves a series of hydraulic-powered clamps that close and squeeze metal fins that are attached to the underside of a coaster train. Roller coasters may incorporate multiple brake runs throughout the coaster's track layout to adjust the train's speed at any given time.
Luna Park Melbourne is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. It opened on 13 December 1912, with a formal opening a week later, and has been operating almost continuously ever since.
Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster is an enclosed steel wild mouse roller coaster located at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia. It is based on the 2002 live action film Scooby-Doo, which was filmed at the studio adjacent to the park at the same time the ride was being constructed. In 2018 the ride underwent a significant theming overhaul and reopened in December under the name Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster: Next Generation with a new ride storyline, new theming and new special effects. It closed for refurbishment in January 2023 and is set to reopen in 2025.
Vuoristorata is a classic wooden roller coaster located at the Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was built in the winter of 1950 by Linnanmäki's staff on the basis of drawings by Valdemar Lebech, a Danish builder specialising in fairground rides. The construction work was led by the Danish ride operator Svend Jarlström, who at the time owned most of Linnanmäki's rides. Opened on 13 July 1951, Vuoristorata was the largest roller coaster in the Nordic countries and the tallest in Europe at the time. Expected to last up to 15 years, it was originally designed as a temporary attraction for the amusement park, opened in 1950. One of the main reasons for its construction was to attract tourists from the 1952 Summer Olympics held in the city. Since then, its temporary status was renewed for extended periods, until it was eventually regarded as a permanent structure.
Roller coaster amusement rides have origins back to ice slides constructed in 18th-century Russia. Early technology featured sleds or wheeled carts that were sent down hills of snow reinforced by wooden supports. The technology evolved in the 19th century to feature railroad track using wheeled cars that were securely locked to the track. Newer innovations emerged in the early 20th century with side friction and underfriction technologies to allow for greater speeds and sharper turns. By the mid-to-late 20th century, these elements intensified with the introduction of steel roller coaster designs and the ability to invert riders.
The Gold Coaster is a steel roller coaster operating at Dreamworld. The roller coaster is one of the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere, after originally being the tallest when it was first built. Designed by Arrow Dynamics, built in Melbourne by Able Leisure Pty. Ltd the ride was originally installed at Luna Park Sydney in 1995 as the Big Dipper before being sold and relocated to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast in 2001. When it was brought to Dreamworld, the ride was the first roller coaster to be opened on the Gold Coast since 1997. The roller coaster was named Cyclone from 2001 until 2015 when it was refurbished and named Hot Wheels SideWinder as part of the new Motorsport Experience themed land from 2015 to 2020.
Roller Coaster – also known as Scenic Railway or The Scenic – is a wooden roller coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, UK. The ride was built at the park in 1932 and has been operational since. It is one of only two scenic railways still in operation in the UK and one of only seven in the world. In common with most scenic railways, an operator rides the car. Traditionally referred to as a 'brakesman’, the operator applies brakes on the car to control its speed and to stop it at the end of the ride, as there are no brakes on the track. It is the second tallest and second fastest wooden roller coaster in the UK. It is also a Grade II listed building.
Montaña Suiza is a steel scenic railway roller coaster located at Monte Igueldo Amusement Park, on the coast at San Sebastián, Spain. It was designed and built by German engineer Erich Heidrich and opened at the site in 1928. It is the oldest steel roller coaster still operating in the world.
The Gold Rush Country is a themed land at the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
The Dreamworld Express is a 2 ft narrow gauge railway located at the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast, Queensland in Australia.
BuzzSaw was a Maurer AG SkyLoop roller coaster located within the Gold Rush Country section of the Dreamworld amusement park on the Gold Coast of Australia. The ride began operation on 17 September 2011 as part of Dreamworld's 30th birthday celebrations. The ride was permanently closed on 31 August 2021, due to Dreamworld prioritising future development plans.
Green Lantern Coaster is a steel roller coaster at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The ride is themed after DC Comics' Green Lantern and is located within the park's DC Comics superhero hub. The ride is an El Loco roller coaster manufactured by S&S Worldwide, characterised by a tight circuit featuring a beyond-vertical drop and an outward banked turn. When it opened in 2011, it held the record for having the second steepest drop in the world among roller coasters, and the steepest drop in the Southern Hemisphere, the latter of which is a record it still holds as of 2020. Green Lantern Coaster officially opened on 23 December 2011.
The history of Dreamworld dates back to the mid-1970s when John Longhurst envisioned the future theme park. After a seven-year construction period, Dreamworld officially opened to the public on 15 December 1981. Now owned by publicly listed Ardent Leisure, the park has seen many expansions, closures and replacements over its 30-year history.
Storm Coaster is a water coaster located at the Sea World theme park on the Gold Coast, Australia. The ride is designed by Mack Rides of Germany and combines the flume and splashdown elements of a log flume, with the chain lift hill and drops of a steel roller coaster.
Abyss is a steel roller coaster located at the Adventure World amusement park in Perth, Western Australia. The $12-million attraction was announced in April 2013, and construction began the following month. It opened to the general public six months later on 1 November 2013.
DC Rivals HyperCoaster is a steel hypercoaster at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Manufactured by Mack Rides, it is the fastest, and tallest hypercoaster in the Southern Hemisphere. It officially opened on 22 September 2017, becoming the newest attraction added to Warner Bros. Movie World since Doomsday Destroyer in 2016 and the latest roller coaster addition since Green Lantern Coaster in 2011. The roller coaster reaches a height of 61.6 metres (202 ft) with a maximum speed of 115.1 kilometres per hour (71.5 mph) and has a total track length of 1.4 kilometres (4,593.2 ft).
Leviathan is a wooden roller coaster at Sea World on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is a part of the park's New Atlantis Expansion, and the first new wooden coaster built in Australia in 35 years. Leviathan opened on 2 December 2022.
A scenic railway is an early roller coaster design that uses only road wheels. It usually requires a brakeman to ride on the train and slow it, if needed. Their name derives from the fact that they are often adorned with elaborate façades. The power and setup requirements of the travelling version resulted in special Showman's engines being built with an additional dynamo and a crane mounted on an enlarged coal bunker. The traveling versions of the Scenic railway were built between 1910 and 1925 with the last one being scrapped 1962. The space in the middle of the travelling version was most commonly filled with a waterfall and organ.
