| Roller Coasters |
| Can they come off the track? |
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As a matter of fact, of course they can come off the track! They have to in order to be taken to the shop every winter. The only place the train can come off the track is near the station, but only after a section of removable track has been unbolted, and the cars uncoupled from each other. |
The yellow dots above and below indicate the right front corner of the car. |
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Here's how a coaster stays on the track: |
Above is a coaster car sitting on a rack
in the shop. You can see the colored outline of all 3 types of wheels. |
| And now to understand what you are learning: With a "wood coaster" train, likes this is, you have wood track laminations with a steel track plate secured to each running surface. In the construction photo below, the "hand" is showing you these laminations of wood. There are usually 6-8 total plies/laminations of wood, 2X8's or 2X10's and on top is 2X10's or 2X12's. The two wider pieces of lumber on top are positioned so that the extra 2 inches hang inward, toward the center of the track. By doing this, it then forms an overhang, under which the safety wheels will be retained. This is what keeps the coaster from leaving the track. You can see this train-to-track comparison in the bottom photo on this page. |
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The photo on the left displayes the way a coaster train is attached to the track. The layers of Brown shaded rectangles represents the wood laminations that make up the track. The Blue strips represent the steel track that the wheels ride against. |
| Keep in mind, you are seeing only
the lower right half of the car, looking from front to back. This shows how the safety
wheel is interlocked with the track in a way that prevents it from leaving the track. See,
you can't fly off the track, even on a wood coaster! So, RIDE ON!! Wahooooooo |
