New Looping Wooden Roller Coasters?!

The New Texas Giant almost goes upside down!

An interesting article ran in the Spokane Journal of Business yesterday about Rocky Mountain Construction Group, which is building a brand new $1 million shop where it is going to move its roller coaster track fabrication operation.

The new building will allow Rocky Mountain to start to be able to build their own coaster trains, something they need for future projects according to the company's President, Fred Grubb.  Citing that the company's coaster track can twist and turn in such extreme ways, the new rides that Rocky Mountain is building will need custom designed cars.  The "revolutionary" new trains have been under development for months, going through design and engineering.

Perhaps you're asking why the title of this article mentions looping wooden coasters.  Well, that's because Mr. Grubb mentions just that in the story - paired together, the company's new track and cars will allow wooden coaster with loops to be built. 

But that's not all the news he has to share, he also drops the bomb that both Silver Dollar City and Six Flags Fiesta Texas are lined up to receive their products in 2013, with a combined contract value of $12 million.

Naturally we would consider the Rattler as a candidate for a makeover similar to the Texas Giant, but the project for Silver Dollar City sounds like a new ride from the ground up.  Very exciting news indeed.

Sounds like Rocky Mountain will need all of the 18,000 square feet that it's adding with its new building, Mr. Grubb also points out right now they are building as many ride as they can fabricate - a sure sign of high demand.  The company is responsible for the makeover of the Texas Giant, which debuted to rave reviews this past year.

The article is available online here, but you'll have to pony up the $1.50 I did in order to read it.