Storm Runner

The building on the right houses the massive hydraulic motors and accumulators that propel each train quickly toward this huge hill.  Before each launch, an air pump fills accumulator tanks full of nitrogen to about 300 times atmospheric pressure.  A series of valves and hoses are used in order to allow the accumulated air pressure to rapidly expel hydraulic fluid into a set of hydraulic motors.  These motors are all attached to a massive drum which has large steel cable spooled around it.  This cable pulls on a small "catch car" that shuttles between the loading platform and this building.

©2014 by Joel A. Rogers