Greezed Lightnin'

Greezed Lightnin' had just 863 feet, or 263 meters, of track.  The green tower on the right of this picture was nearly 138 feet (42 meters) tall and featured a 70-degree climb.

This shuttle loop was one of the first-generation models.  The force to propel the train out of the station was provided by a 40-ton weight housed in the massive blue tube seen below the tower on the right.  An electric motor would lift the weight to the top of the tube.  When the weight was dropped, gravity would pull it down while a system of cables and pulleys would triple the speed of the drop and use that to pull the train with approximately 13 tons of force.  Second-generation shuttle loops had a six-ton flywheel spinning at 1,044 revolutions per minute that coupled to a 4-to-1 speed reducer.  That reducer was linked to a drive pulley and cable that launched the train.