Cedar Point | Steel Vengeance | RMC I-Box (Mean Streak Conversion)
- Thread starter GuyWithAStick
- Start date
I love the fact you guys from the U.S have the luxury of being able to not care for a huge semi modern woodie. If Mean Streak was in the U.K. it would be almost in same league as Nemesis.
I'm not having a go, probably just jeleous that you guys have the chance to see a huge woodie converted as a posed to us over the water to wait for something like Mean Streak to be built over here. Due to poxy British planning laws we will never see anything it's scale built .
I am however intrigued to see how high they make it and what happens after the lift hill. A straight drop would be pointless as Millenium Force does this already. But a roll over could work, taking the highest inversion record as well as tallest wooden supported coaster in the world.
I'm not having a go, probably just jeleous that you guys have the chance to see a huge woodie converted as a posed to us over the water to wait for something like Mean Streak to be built over here. Due to poxy British planning laws we will never see anything it's scale built .
I am however intrigued to see how high they make it and what happens after the lift hill. A straight drop would be pointless as Millenium Force does this already. But a roll over could work, taking the highest inversion record as well as tallest wooden supported coaster in the world.
Photos from this past weekend that have been shared on the CoasterForce facebook page:
Things to note:
Compare this to Twisted Colossus' pre-lift airtime hills:
There has not been much visual progress during these cold winter months. It will be interesting to see how things continue during the spring off-season as the park preps for 2017.
Things to note:
- Nearly all track has been removed, at least that can be seen in these photos.
- The first drop/post MCBR section has been totally removed (pictured below from November), supports and all. Much of the support structure after the first two wave turns has also been removed.
- Much of the lift hill turnaround supports have been removed.
- Track has been installed up to the beginning of the lift hill (this is the same that I had snapped on Cedar Point's last day).
- New supports have been added atop the lift hill, offering a steeper trajectory and (imaginatively) taller first drop than Mean Streak's 161 ft. [chanting]200 ft.! 200 ft.![/chanting]
- No other new track connections have been spotted (silver metal cross members that connect the track to the supports). We had spotted an off-axis airtime segment back in November right at ground level, theoretically headed back into the station. (pictured below)
Compare this to Twisted Colossus' pre-lift airtime hills:
There has not been much visual progress during these cold winter months. It will be interesting to see how things continue during the spring off-season as the park preps for 2017.
Wonder if they'll have to reinforce the structure a lot? I mean, given that they increase the height of the lift hill to 200 feet, that's a 25 % increase, which would lead to a roughly corresponding increase in speed throughout the layout. The various twists and turns of the ride have a fixed and not very flexible radius, so the higher speed would lead to higher centrifugal forces from the train as it passes by (this is probably a terrible use of the term "centrifugal force", but it illustrates the point). To riders, the sensation of this force could be negated with higher banking, but the structure will still take the full brunt of a multi-ton train going around the curves a lot faster than it was originally designed for.
Of course, RMC could always raise each turn a little so the train speed stays the same, but they'd have to build up the structure even more for that, I'd imagine. Or since the steel track is stiffer than wooden track, the forces would be distributed along more of the structure at any time (just like a ski will distribute the pressure from your foot on the snow, so you don't sink through it), so reinforcement might not be necessary. Then again, steel track is heavier than wooden track, so you'd have to account for the extra weight somehow...
And with the reinforced or at least enlarged structure comes the question... will they have to dig and pour new footers? Of course, the force exerted on each existing footer could probably be doubled or tripled without much trouble, but they may be awkwardly placed in relation to where they'd have to add new beams.
Thinking this through, I suddenly understand why they're taking the whole next season to build this, even though the coaster is right there already.
Of course, RMC could always raise each turn a little so the train speed stays the same, but they'd have to build up the structure even more for that, I'd imagine. Or since the steel track is stiffer than wooden track, the forces would be distributed along more of the structure at any time (just like a ski will distribute the pressure from your foot on the snow, so you don't sink through it), so reinforcement might not be necessary. Then again, steel track is heavier than wooden track, so you'd have to account for the extra weight somehow...
And with the reinforced or at least enlarged structure comes the question... will they have to dig and pour new footers? Of course, the force exerted on each existing footer could probably be doubled or tripled without much trouble, but they may be awkwardly placed in relation to where they'd have to add new beams.
Thinking this through, I suddenly understand why they're taking the whole next season to build this, even though the coaster is right there already.
It could also be possible to supplement the wooden supports with steel supports where needed (similar to how Goliath at SFGAM was built), or build wholecloth new wooden support sections); we've seen it done both ways with RMC conversions. Even looking at the Medusa Steel Coaster stock background photo for the forums, you can see where new wood has been added for the track. The lift hill should be a straight shot up, unless they try to wrap track around it, etc.
For new structures, I imagine they would add new footers. Mean Streak's footers were laid pretty shallow due to the large, broad wooden structures; the area actually sits on a lot of sand. So it would be simple enough to add footers.
NTG took roughly this long to convert, so indeed I too am not surprised for the longer build period.
For new structures, I imagine they would add new footers. Mean Streak's footers were laid pretty shallow due to the large, broad wooden structures; the area actually sits on a lot of sand. So it would be simple enough to add footers.
NTG took roughly this long to convert, so indeed I too am not surprised for the longer build period.
^ The more apt comparison would be to Texas Giant, which was the little sister to Mean Streak. Texas Giant opened in 1990, and Mean Streak opened in 1991; both built by Dinn Corp and both the tallest, fastest wooden coaster upon debut. 
Granted - RMC has learned a couple things since their first conversion with Texas Giant however!
Texas Giant
Mean Streak
Granted - RMC has learned a couple things since their first conversion with Texas Giant however!Texas Giant
Mean Streak
GuyWithAStick
Captain Basic
Track is already up, they went for a brown color.
Can't find the pic right now, but it should be somewhere.
Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk
Can't find the pic right now, but it should be somewhere.
Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk