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
My layout is based on the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend Railroad from Randolph Street Station in Chicago to South Bend, Indiana. It is based in the mid 1960s when I first saw the railroad in South Bend. The layout is 30 by 60 foot. Running NCE DCC and signaling via CTC using C/MRI.