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Wooden
Wooden
Statistics

Description

The track and supports are made out of wood.

First Installation

Grand Centrifugal Railway

Oldest in Operation

Leap-The-Dips (1902)

Newest Installation

Goliath (2014)

Manufacturers

Custom Coasters International - Dinn Corporation - Great Coasters International - Intamin AG - Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters - S&S Worldwide - Vekoma - The Gravity Group, LLC

A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster that is built mainly out of wood. The rails are typically built with laminated steel and are located on top of the wooden track.

Notable Wooden Roller Coasters[]

  • Beast - Opened as the longest roller coaster in the world. The ride is now the third-longest but is still the longest wooden coaster.
  • Son of Beast - Was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world at 218 feet (66.4 meters). It also was originally the only looping wooden coaster until 2007. The loop was removed due to the weight of the new replacement trains. 
  • Leap The Dips - Currently the oldest operating roller coaster in the world. The ride opened in 1902.
  • El Toro - 2nd tallest Wooden Roller Coaster at 181 ft. as of October 4, 2019. Winner of the 2010 Mitch Hawker's Poll.
  • Shivering Timbers is claimed by some enthusiasts to be one of the best wooden coasters in the world.
  • The Voyage - Voted as the best wooden on the planet from 2007-2011. The top speed is 67.4 mph and it provides one of the longest amounts of airtime on a wooden roller coaster at 24.2 seconds
  • Outlaw Run  - The first modern looping coaster, after Son of Beast. Uses Rocky Mountain Construction's Topper Track.
  • Goliath - A record-breaking wooden coaster, opened in 2014. It has beaten three records set by wooden coasters, being steepest, fastest, and longest drop on ANY wooden coaster.  It also introduced the world's first zero g stall element, and remains the only wooden coaster with a dive loop.
  • Lightning Rod - The First and Only wooden launched coaster, which opened in 2016 at Dollywood. It is also the fastest wooden coaster achieving speeds up to 73 mph.  Lightning Rod however is now considered steel due to its track being majority steel. The launch was also replaced by a lift hill with speeds unlikely to surpass 67mph based on lift speed, angle of descent, and recorded speeds using technology. The highest speed I unofficially recorded was 64.77mph on 08/13/2024 at 6:12pm
Roller Coaster Types
Track Materials HybridSteelWooden
Train Configurations 4th DimensionBobsledDive CoasterFloorlessFlyingInvertedMine TrainMotorbikePipelineSide FrictionSpinningStand-UpStraddleSuspendedVirginia ReelWing Coaster
Track Layouts DuelingFigure 8LaunchedMöbius LoopOut & BackRacingShuttleStrata CoasterWild Mouse
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