Sunday, August 7, 2016

Roller Coaster Speed Study

 Skyliner Roller Coaster Lakemont Park Altoona, PA

In an effort to develop a realistic operating model of a coaster I filmed this small wooden coaster at Lakemont Saturday.  Watching the video I have found that the speeds down hill vs. the speeds up hill are not significantly different.  At the maximum I would guess the speed down is about double the speed up hills and on curves at level or near level.  I think a model with fixed voltages to several different portions of the tracks and the use of flywheels on the motors in the cars could produce a realistic model.  If you do a search for model roller coasters on you tube you will all of them run entirely too fast.  For example:  https://youtu.be/XHJx3mqYotg