El Toro

Conventional wooden coasters have track that is built-up of six to ten layers of wood that are nailed or bolted together.  This layering is usually done on-site.  Lastly, thin metal track is then placed upon these layers of wood.  The entire track is built by hand after the coaster's structure is finished.

El Toro is the third 'prefabricated' roller coaster created by Intamin.  Its track consists of 25-foot sections of wood that are precision-cut to the exact shape for each piece of track.  Instead of making track on site, the pre-fab coaster track is milled at the factory.  The pieces have special joints on the end that allow them to snap together with other track sections.  The end result is one of the smoothest wood coasters I have ever experienced.  It also makes for faster construction and less maintenance than conventional wooden roller coasters.  This picture shows the junction of track segments.

©2018 by Joel A. Rogers.