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Kennywood | Steel Curtain | S&S Multi-looper

Pear said:
This is going to look disgusting

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Its not the nicest looking place as is, grim reminds me of sheffield
 
Jarrett said:
I wouldn’t lump Merlin in with the rest because if I’m remembering right, it just took a while to get built for some reason, it’s not like it was sitting around SBNO forever because of some horrific mechanical problem like the others on the list. Not an insider but that sounds more like a planning problem than an engineering problem.

Same with Bullet Coaster to an extent. Yes that’s a major slip up, however they aren’t the only manufacturer to have that problem. I know that both old Hulk and Mystery Mine needed welds redone regularly for various reasons. Not sure how severe the issues were though but it would make sense that welding could have been a factor in it allegedly getting rough. Jeff Pike said at CoasterStock last year that the reason Steel Force has that long flat turn around the Helix is actually to account for the metallurgical effects of welding in track fabrication. They kind of let it do its thing and then closed the gap with that instead of factoring it into the initial design, if we want to go back the the importance of sound manufacturing practices. If they had to redo the whole ride that’s one thing but just a few problem spots might be more common than one would think.

So that leaves Twist Coaster Robin, Gale Force, and Ring Racer as their only three serious slip ups that couldn’t be fixed reasonably and only one was structural. Robin was allegedly not entirely theirs (Got curious typing this and found a good article on it: https://www.google.com/amp/s/lesko5...bin-a-tale-of-epic-failure/amp/?source=images), Ring Racer was pretty extreme, Gale Force was a track style they’d never worked with before and considering it was a track problem I bet that’s what caused it.

So looking at S&S’s track record through my eyes, there ya go. Steel Curtain isn’t exactly a mechanically complex ride like Ring Racer, it’s using a track style they’ve used before according to renderings, but it’s still a new ride system that appears to have new trains. If they’ve learned from their track mistakes and the trains are built using as much existing hardware as they can appropriate and don’t overcomplicate the ride system, it should be successful. However, I wouldn’t say it’s an indestructible B&M that you should have no problem with on opening day. I could certainly see moderate issues arising here and there, but the project doesn’t seem to be deviant or complicated enough to be the next Son of Beast or Vertigo. Maybe the next Lightning Rod at worst, but I’d be really shocked if this has to be torn down or completely rebuilt.

Of course this is all early speculation grasping at straws. I’d much rather pop some popcorn, crack open a cold one, and watch them build a coaster instead of spending too much time predicting the reliability of a ride that doesn’t even have completed footers yet. Maybe the uncertain success is part of it but I’m excited to see this giant heavy machinery product placement go up!
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Building off of this - this ride having a lift instead of a launch might save all parties involved a big headache.


GeodieCoasterFan said:
Its not the nicest looking place as is, grim reminds me of sheffield
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As it's an old manufacturing city, Pittsburgh has quite a lot of character, especially in a neighborhood like West Mifflin.
 
Jarrett said:
So looking at S&S’s track record through my eyes, there ya go. Steel Curtain isn’t exactly a mechanically complex ride like Ring Racer, it’s using a track style they’ve used before according to renderings, but it’s still a new ride system that appears to have new trains. If they’ve learned from their track mistakes and the trains are built using as much existing hardware as they can appropriate and don’t overcomplicate the ride system, it should be successful. However, I wouldn’t say it’s an indestructible B&M that you should have no problem with on opening day. I could certainly see moderate issues arising here and there, but the project doesn’t seem to be deviant or complicated enough to be the next Son of Beast or Vertigo. Maybe the next Lightning Rod at worst, but I’d be really shocked if this has to be torn down or completely rebuilt.
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I'm all with you as far as track goes, and as @Antinos mentioned, they don't have the hassle of a launch either. They're making a new set of trains, though, and as you mention that's where the big unknown lies. Didn't Gale Force have to have its trains redesigned along with the retracking? That would suggest they've still got things to learn in that department. Then again, Gale Force maneuvers much tighter elements than this coaster will, so it might be that its problems are irrelevant in this case.

I also like to be positive for this coaster. Anybody remember what our opinion of Mack Rides was before Blue Fire? They were the ones who had tolerable Spinners, provided us with more Wild Mice than anybody ever needs, and occasionally made those water coasters nobody had any opinion about. Then they made a couple of break-out coasters, and now they're up there with the most exciting manufacturers to see a truck from at a park. Hopefully, Steel Curtain will be a break-out coaster for S&S, it certainly has the stats to be a portfolio headliner for the company.
 
Maybe...one of the bigger problems other than aesthetics, is that its still Arrow track. It could be made by the best of the best, within millimeters of specs given, and Quality Controlled by NASA...but it LOOKS like Arrow track. Anyone else have a mental block when climbing aboard the old familiar? I know I sure do.
 
Snoo said:
It's not.
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This is correct, it doesn't look like old Arrow track.

SW_corkscrewpov.jpg

Here it is, classic Arrow looper in every sense of it. Notice how the side friction wheels sit on the inside of the track between the rails.

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You'll notice that each tie goes out past the width of the rail, up, and then back in to hold it from the outside.

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Steel Curtain's track as you can see has the ties as simple triangular shapes on the inside between the spine and the rails. The side friction wheels will touch the track from the very outside edges of it, as opposed to holding it from in between the rails.

5942ef1875da8f1a6f9fbf8c_PowderKeg_6064.jpg

The tie design is certainly different here, but you can see it's pretty much the same idea, and you can see that Powder Keg grips it from the outside. I feel this is probably close to how the ride system for Steel Curtain might look. Certainly there will be differences as we already know it's a different ride system, but it looks to be the same type of track and supports roughly.

Now it's also not always true but if I'm correct, the practice of putting them on the outside started in pursuit of a smoother ride, with B&M and Schwarzkopf as the ones to start doing it. Having them on the inside won't necessarily cause a rattle (RMC I-box and topper track, Lightning Run), while having them on the outside won't necessarily prevent one (Kingda Ka, 2014 Banshee in the purple train). Not sure how true this is, I remember hearing it somewhere but I couldn't find a source to confirm it.

In other news, track is on site!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1800378140052387
 
Did anyone else catch that the renderings have yellow supports and that the pictures show black supports arriving at Kennywood? I don't think it will look as gaudy with black supports. Maybe they will pay a homage to Phantom and go black supports, grey track, with yellow cars (with the steelers logo).

Also, as other people have said, the POV is just for rendering purposes. we wont know exactly what track style they are using until we see it arrive. I'm kinds excited about the trains TBH
 
Good to see that supports are already turning up. Very excited to see what this actually looks like in non-cg form.
 
If this coaster is steelers themed (and we know it is) It will be black with yellow. Though I wish they had swapped the colors so the track was yellow not the supports. Either way all we can do know is watch and wait.
 
I think it might be where the track connects to the supports. But that looks like station and brake run track, so who knows, we have to wait till we have more deliveries to be sure.
 
Crazycoaster said:
It looks like that is a black support at the back of the truck?
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I think they may go with black in the very low sections/transfer track/station but not on the big ol supports. Given that this may be track and it's all very straight, that may be the case.
 
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