The Beast

If you look carefully at the opening between the rails located right in front of the lead car, you can see the sawtooth-shaped linear ratchet that prevents the trains from falling back down this hill.  Pieces of metal, often called "dogs," are mounted under each car.   As these hinged "dogs" fall into these grooves, they make the clacking noise that so many people associate with roller coasters.  But if you ride The Beast, or even if you watch an on-ride video, you will hear that there are anti-rollback devices not only on the two chain lifts, but also on short segments on top of two other hills.  This ensures that a slow train will simply stop near the top of a hill instead of rolling backward and potentially cycling back and forth until settling down into a low spot somewhere in the track.

©2014 by Joel A. Rogers