What is the difference between wooden steel coasters

Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Prev NEXT. Structural Engineering. Sit-down: The traditional design, with riders sitting inside a car. Stand-up: Riders stand on the train's floor instead of sitting. Inverted: The train travels below the track instead of on top of it.

It is distinct from a suspended coaster since the train is fixed to the track. Suspended: The train travels beneath the track, but unlike an inverted coaster, the train is fixed to a swinging arm that pivots from side to side. Pipeline: The track is attached to the middle of the train, instead of above or below it.

Bobsled: Wheeled trains slide down a U-shaped tube instead of being fixed to a track. It may be nostalgia, but a wooden coaster captures the essence of a true coaster ride. You can smell the wood, hear the sounds of the chain lift, the rumble of the timer, and feel the roar as the trains race around the tracks.

They are over-engineered and often seem too caught up in loops and gimmicks. There is something extra about a wooden coaster — it seems to carry the soul of the thrill ride. Part of their beauty is that wooden coasters are living, breathing things.

Steel roller coasters can have loops in their tracks and suspend passengers upside down, and wooden roller coasters typically remain upright. The roller coaster takes about seven seconds to go from zero to mph. Superman the Escape stands 41 stories tall.

The fastest wooden roller coaster is The Son of Beast, which reaches 78 mph. The longest wooden roller coaster is The Beast, which has 7, feet of track.

Liana Thomas began writing professionally in She has written for various websites, specializing in arts, entertainment and media topics. How does a roller coaster work? What you may not realize as you're cruising down the track at 60 miles an hour is that the coaster has no engine. The car is pulled to the top of the first hill at the beginning of the ride, but after that the coaster must complete the ride on its own. You aren't being propelled around the track by a motor or pulled by a hitch.

The conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy is what drives the roller coaster, and all of the kinetic energy you need for the ride is present once the coaster descends the first hill..