The "What makes a woodie a woodie?" Debate Thread

Use this thread to debate what you think makes a woodie a woodie! Keep it clean and try not to get out of hand. Remember, everyone is entitled to their own opinions!

And now for the vital question, are the Intamin prefab woodies (Balder, Colossus etc) true, genuine woodies? ...

What makes a woodie a woodie? The tracking. Gemini has tubular track so its steel, woodies have wood track so their wood! If you go by the structure, then that puts several CCI coasters as steels.

In Intamin's case, the track isn't tubular, its the steel plating. Still a woodie whether it was made 1000 miles away or not.

[coolbeans326]

yes, technically its a woody, but it has the smoothness, and the feel of a steel coaster, no lats, just basically air time like on thier hypers. So its not a genuine woody, it gets the same effect of a steel coaster.

The only thing that distinguishes between woodies and steel coasters is the tracking like Jim said. One is tubular and the other is laminated layers of wood and steel plates. The supports mean absolutely nothing. If a B&M had wood supports, you wouldn't say, "Wow, what a nice wooden coaster." You would say, "Wow, the steel coaster looks good."

And as for the prefab track. Even if it isn't made to the old standards, it still is made out of wood and uses the same basic idea as all other wood track. This is just like comparing a TV of the 1950's to a TV of today. They still use the same basic idea with using a tube to produce light. A TV made now is still a true TV, it's just different than an older one. So my final verdict on this is that technically speaking, Intamin woodies are true woodies, but when you think about what a woodie should feel like, they are more like steel.

Don't know why exactly I'm comparing coasters to TV's but I hope you get the point.

I dont see anything similar from Intamins to traditional - from the design to the building. The only common thing is its made of wood and weve established in the other thread that the material doesnt have as much to do with it as other things.

Maybe when Im more awake Ill make a list comparing all the ways its like wood and steel.


I think it deserves its own category - Plug n Play Woodie.

I couldnt care less lol. In my eyes, if its made of wood, its a woodie. A sliver of my care goes to saying that hybrids like gemini or CGI woodies are different though..

[hyyyper]

i think the supports...
i would see a wooden track with intamin-mega support more like a steel coaster

^But supports only exisist to hold the ride up. They don't effect how a coaster rides or what kind of manuevers it can do. The track effects that.

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Woodie Man

^But supports only exisist to hold the ride up. They don't effect how a coaster rides or what kind of manuevers it can do. The track effects that.

yeah, but i use this description
woodie: supports-construction with a track on top of it
steelie: track with supports under it...

but who cares, you'll know a woodie when you see one

but who cares, you'll know a woodie when you see one

Yes, I will know that a woodie is a coaster with wooden track when I see one.

[Dirk_Ermen]

What makes a woodie for me a true woodie is the ratteling and what can not miss: LATERALS! [:P] Without that i can't call it a woodie. But ofcource airtime should it really have too, just for the intensity. Then it's also even more fun! [:D]

I call it a woodie if it looks like a woody and if it's made out of wood.[:p]
So yes, Intamin's are woodies imo

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Dirk_Ermen

What makes a woodie for me a true woodie is the ratteling and what can not miss: LATERALS! [:P] Without that i can't call it a woodie. But ofcource airtime should it really have too, just for the intensity. Then it's also even more fun! [:D]

so a steel wild mouse is a woodie IYO?

nah, i get what you mean, i guess the problem will only be there as soon as some comp. builds a ride that's exacty in between...

EDIT: the little voice in my head says that there's nothing that separates the steelies from the woodies, they just need few criterica to be called a woodie
woodie: extensie supports, lap bars, lak of banking, laterals, shocks, no inversions (beastPKI excl.)
steelie: economic, technical support, smooth (excl. togo,vekoma...), steel track

what defines a woodie, it has to have a running rail fixed to a wood laminate, the support structure has nothing to do with it,several coasters of the 20's used steel supports but with the wooden track configeration.
It's irrelivent how the ride feels ie rough or smooth, not all wood coasters
have laterals out and backs generally have very little lateral g's.The likes of GCI prefer to build rides with more lateral g's that's because
they build twisters.Basically what I am getting at is it doesn't matter
what anyone individual feels a woodie should be or how it should ride it's
woodie's are defined by the running rails on a laminate , Intamin use this
method but have engineered there own way of making them.

Hyyyper, I wouldn't be talking about voices in heads on a site where we discuss insanity often.

And owen, thats what I've been trying to say all along. Hyyyper, would you consider one of the greatest coasters of all time (Crystal Beach Cyclone) a steel coaster?

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Woodie Man

Hyyyper, I wouldn't be talking about voices in heads on a site where we discuss insanity often.

And owen, thats what I've been trying to say all along. Hyyyper, would you consider one of the greatest coasters of all time (Crystal Beach Cyclone) a steel coaster?

i never said the woodie should have STEEL supports, hades and the voyage have steel support though

EDIT: btw, there is not such things as a woodie OR a steelie, there are always coasters in btween, but from them you can always tell wether it's a woodie or steelie

And owen, thats what I've been trying to say all along. Hyyyper, would you consider one of the greatest coasters of all time (Crystal Beach Cyclone) a steel coaster?

This one is tricky. I would count Crystal Beach cyclone as a wood coaster, BUT i would also say it was a great step towards making coasters out of steel fully.

I think technically Intamin woodies are woodies. BUT then they dont have lats which is one of the main things woodies should have.

There is no rule to say a woodie should have high lateral forces
like I said and out and back may have one turnaround so this is the
only place that you would feel lateral g's. The question is what defines a woodie and the answer is a steel running rail mounted on a
wood laminate.

It isnt, the question was what makes a woodie, and that all comes down to personal opinion.

Originally posted by owen jay

There is no rule to say a woodie should have high lateral forces
like I said and out and back may have one turnaround so this is the
only place that you would feel lateral g's. The question is what defines a woodie and the answer is a steel running rail mounted on a
wood laminate.

A wooden coaster with 'few turnarounds thus not many places of lateral gs' is not the situation with Intamin woodies. Intamin woodies have plenty of opportunity for lats but never take them.

As for the main question, are Intamin woodies genuine woodies? Well, yes and no. Sure, they are technically wooden coasters and have wood track (and wood supports, hyyyper, so you should consider them wood coasters in that sense too), but they do NOT have the characteristics of a true wooden coaster to make them genuine. It really depends on what your looking at. So yes, they actually are wooden coasters, but I can't really call them that. Lets make a few comparisons from Intamin hyper to Intamin wood coaster:

• Restraints and seats are extremely similar
• Engineering is exactly the same
• Lateral forces are minimized to the highest extreme on both
• Track shaping is different

So the way they ride and feel is indistinguishable from the steel hypers.

what makes a woodie for me is the sound of the ratteling, No steel coaster could ever make that sound ever, ever, ever!!!

[gouldy]

If a coaster is made of wood, it's a woodie, if it's made in the style of a steel coaster, e.g colossos @ Heide Park, then it's just not a very good woodie but it's still a woodie.

^^^ But i heard both balder and collossus are AMAZING. They are just a little unlike traditional, or the usual woodies. Which is good in a sense, but they are not typically woodie with all the laterals which are a good characteristic. Its hard for me to decide. Im kinda sitting on the fence, but im gonna have to get off one side soon, cos the sharp bits are hurting my butt!

[hyyyper]

lets get one thing straight

we all know a woodie and we know how to classefi a coaster when we see one...so this debate is kinda useless and the same things keep coming back

if you disagree (most likely) show me a pick of a coaster that's not a woodie nor a steelie, or both, or in between

I don't realy care. Balder is anyway how you see it one of the best coasters in the world, wood or not. But you can't get away from the fact that its actually made of wood.