Thursday, March 25, 2010

A Blast From The Past - Roller Coaster Corporation of America's Kiddie Woodie



For most, the thought of Roller Coaster Corporation of America (RCCA) building a wooden kiddie coaster seems like tall story, RCCA was known for building very large coasters. Their method was fabricate the structure at their facility and assemble it onsite. They kept the manufacturing tolerances as tight as the steel coaster makers of the time.

RCCA's "big ones" range from Six Flags over Georgia's Great American Scream Machine to Kings Island's Son of Beast.

Roller Coaster Corporation of America & John Pierce Associates collaborated on a turn-key, pre-engineered, minaturized wooden coaster design geared toward small children and an accompanying adult. This scaled down version of a traditional wooden coaster was prefabicated, shipped and assembled on site. All you needed was a relatively flat 130' x 80'area. The complete package included the design and engineering, the foundation, the wood structure, the laminated track (using high grade Douglas Fir,) fin brakes, the chain lift drive system (including the motor with digital controls,) and one 12 passenger train.


To our knowledge one was never built. So... one has to wonder why the company offered a small roller coaster? And, an even better question would be, why didn't any park buy one of these turn-key Kiddie Woodies.


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