Construction Update 1/28/2011

We are now less than 100 days away from the planned opening of the Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster at Bay Beach Amusement park in Green Bay Wisconsin!

This week there was more activity surrounding the lift hill, more steel added to the track in zones 1 and 2, more wood track laid in zone 3, and the lift chain and brakes are now visible on site waiting to be installed. The latest pictures and details are below.

Let's start at the beginning of the ride, all of the decking is on the loading platform.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Steel is now at the beginning of the track and through turn 1

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The steel track continues up the lift hill where the anti-rollback ratchet bars have been added along the lift chain tray.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The steel work has now continued into turn 2 at the top of the lift hill

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The steel has not made it around turn 2 to start down the lift hill yet, we will probably see that next week. Standing in the center of the track at the bottom of the lift hill the view looks like this.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Work continues on the wooden portion of the track on the out and back section of the coaster as shown in the picture below. Note the propane tank in the background, these tanks are used to power torches to melt ice off the track when it interferes with work.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The last part of the out and back is just starting to get wooden track laid.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

On this section you can see workers were cutting small beams that joint the track together between the main structural bents, in the picture below you can see these just cut pieces laying on top of the walkways.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

These will eventually be installed under the wooden track as seen in the section of track in the picture below.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

I also noticed this week that the lift chain and pallets are on-site, hopefully ready to installed soon.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

One final note, the trains have wheels that ride under the track to ensure they can't jump the track. Any locations in the track where the cars are expected to have the lower wheels contact the underside of the track have a steel strip running underneath the track. This is known as up-stop steel. You can easily see the areas with up-stop steel because the ends of the bolts and the locknuts that hold it in place are visible on the top of the track as seen in the picture below.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Construction Update 1/21/2011

It was a bright, brisk day a the Bay Beach Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster. With temperatures in the single digits and the wind chill below zero it was cold but the sun made for some good pictures. I took three panoramas, one looking north at zone 1 and 2.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

One looking north showing the entire roller coaster.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

And one looking east.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Moving on to some more detailed areas effort remains focused on the lift hill area. Chain trays have been added between the lift house and the sprocket at the bottom of the lift hill and a chain tray is being added to the lift hill.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From the bottom of the lift hill you can see the steel track now goes up and over the top of the lift hill.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From inside and outside the oval you can see the steel goes up to turn #2, the turn right after the lift hill.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Back at the bottom of the lift hill you can see they are building stairs alongside the lift hill track.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Just north of the lift hill is the transfer station, the decking on the transfer station is now complete.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The wooden track is now being extended into zone 3, in this view you can see the track leaving the oval of zone 1 and 2.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

It continues over the first hill in zone 3...

From Zippin Pippin Construction

...and over the second hill of zone 3...

From Zippin Pippin Construction

...stopping at the bottom of the second hill, just short of the turn around.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Back in the staging area outside of the oval there are a couple of things worth noting. First check out the section bender they use to put curves into the strips of steel for track that goes around turns.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

There is also a pallet full of the plastic strips that are being added to the bottom of the chain trays to reduce friction.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

And some white piping that appears to be hand rails, possible for the loading platform.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Even with the frigid temperatures at the second half of this week the overall project seems to be ahead of schedule. Be sure to check back next week for another update.

Construction Update 1/14/2011

To start things off this week I wanted to share a picture of the MVR project manager who brought me to the top of the Bay Beach Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster last week. MVR is based in Florida but their people travel the world building roller coasters for the rest of us to enjoy.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

At about the halfway point of January the construction remains ahead of schedule, so far we've been really lucky with the weather, it's been cold and snowy but not much that has slowed progress at this point. This week the main activity has centered around the lift hill. Steel is starting to be added to the track and the tray that will carry the lift chain from the top of the lift hill back down to the lift house is being built.

Let's look at the steel that is being added first, here are some shots showing the steel on the top of the track, the inside of the track, and the underside of the track.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

In the first picture above you'll notice a series of machine bolts, washers, and nuts. I believe these are temporary to hold the steel in place while it is being aligned and bent to conform to the track. Once the countersunk wood screws are added (you can see the heads of these in the third picture) I'm assuming these will be removed. You'll notice the screws are an interesting drive style, similar to a spanner but with three holes instead of two.

While the track on the top of the lift hill structure is having steel added under the track inside of the structure the tray that will carry the lift chain from the top of the lift hill back down to the lift house and it's sprockets, motor and gearbox is being fitted to the structure. Here are some pictures of that progress.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Coming out the other end of the lift house is a series of long boards laid end to end to carry the chain from the idler sprocket in the lift house to the idler sprocket at the bottom of the lift hill.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The shot below shows the idler sprocket at the bottom of the lift hill. This part was added later than the other sprockets, a new shaft needed to be created since the first shaft ended up being to short.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Work continues on the decking of the transfer station, the deck is nearly complete.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

While at the transfer station it's worth taking a close look at turn #1. When the track for these turns are built they are constructed from straight boards pieced together around the turn. After the layers of boards are finished they come back and cut the final arc with a circular saw.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The wooden track in zone 1 and 2 now appears to be complete, at this point the track has not extended much into zone 3, the walkways are still being added.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

The picture below is taken looking west towards the inside of the out and back turn around where the tracks split.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

To wrap up this weeks update here are some panorama shots. First looking north.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

Then two different panoramas looking south.

From Zippin Pippin Construction

From Zippin Pippin Construction

If you look very closely at the last picture you will notice a group of people standing near the area where the pass through for the train is. There were some reps from the Western Great Lakes Region of ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) visiting the job site. Check out the site linked above to see their construction photos.