Crystal Beach Cyclone
| Crystal Beach Cyclone | |
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Postcard image of the Cyclone, next to the Crystal Ball Room.
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| Crystal Beach, Ontario | |
| Park section | Cyclone Bay |
| Coordinates | 42°51′42″N 79°03′35″W / 42.861699°N 79.059844°WCoordinates: 42°51′42″N 79°03′35″W / 42.861699°N 79.059844°W |
| Status | Removed |
| Opening date | 1926 |
| Closing date | September 2, 1946 |
| Cost | $176,000 CDN |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Wood |
| Manufacturer | Traver Engineering |
| Designer | Harry G. Traver |
| Track layout | Twister |
| Lift/launch system | Chain-lift |
| Height | 96 ft (29 m) |
| Drop | 90 ft (27 m) |
| Length | 2,953 ft (900 m) |
| Speed | 60 mph (97 km/h) |
| Duration | 1:10 |
| Max vertical angle | 59° |
| Capacity | 85 riders per hour |
| G-force | 4 Gs |
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Crystal Beach Cyclone at RCDB Pictures of Crystal Beach Cyclone at RCDB |
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The Crystal Beach Cyclone is one of a 'Terrifying Triplet' of highly extreme and vicious roller coasters designed and built by Harry G. Traver in the late 1920s. The Cyclone was located at the Crystal Beach Amusement Park in Ontario, Canada.
Three of these coasters (known as the 'Traver Trio') were designed and built. The Crystal Beach 'Cyclone' and the Revere Beach 'Lightning' were both opened in 1927. The following year, the Schneck brothers, owners of Palisades Park in Fort Lee, NJ, contracted Traver to build a 'Cyclone' for the 1928 season. Of the three, the Crystal beach version was the most famous and longest lasting, eventually being dismantled in September 1946 due to the high maintenance costs and falling revenues. Some of the wood and steel from the Cyclone was used by John Allen and Herbert Schmeck (both designers for the Philadelphia Toboggan Company) in the construction of the Crystal Beach Comet coaster in 1948.
Over 225 tonnes of metal were used in building the ride, which used a steel support structure instead of the more traditional wood. Having said this, it is still considered a "woodie", due to the construction of the track (300 X 25 millimetre wood laminants topped by a flat steel rail). Total length of wood used was about 6,100 metres - all British Columbia fir. At night, 1,000 small incandescent lamps lit the ride.
The layout consisted of a twisted arrangement of track with many curved, and steeply angled drops, banking at up to 80 degrees, the trains traversed multiple banked spirals and figure-8 sections. Other than one trim brake, there were no brake runs outside of the station as there were no level portions of track where brakes could be located (The trim brake was between the spiral's exit and the figure 8 element).
All three were very similar in their design, following the same basic layout. The main difference in the design was that the spiral on the Cyclone at Palisades was even tighter than the two preceding coasters because of the extremely limited space in the park.
The ride ran one or two trains consisting of three or five four-passenger cars depending on crowds. Later, the trains would be permanently reduced to three cars to keep forces on the structure lower.
Ride time was around 40 seconds, discounting station to top of the lift, which extended the time to a total of about 70 seconds. This would have been slightly faster than before opening day because almost half a metre had been removed from the height of the second hill due to roll-back problems.
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Wikipedia