A powered roller coaster is a railed amusement ride similar to a standard

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

. Unlike a true roller coaster, the train is powered through the entire course, rather than being allowed to coast after an initial lift or launch. This allows for both compact layouts that start out with curving hills, or long, extended layouts that would need too many lifts to be feasible. The most common manufacturers of powered coasters are Mack, Wisdom Rides, and

Zamperla Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found in ...

. Due to the family-oriented nature of the rides, height restrictions can be as little as 36 inches or taller for someone to ride. The most common model of powered coasters is the Zamperla Dragon coasters (also called "Dragon Wagons," although there are non-powered versions of these coasters). Other installations include Casey Junior, Le Petit Train du Cirque at

Disneyland Park (Paris) Disneyland Park, originally Euro Disneyland Park, is a theme park found at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. The park opened on 12 April 1992 as the first of the two parks built at the resort. Designed and built by Walt Disney Ima ...

(built by

Vekoma Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld. History The company originally ...

), Thunder Run at

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...

, Runaway Mine Train at

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often referred to as Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, ...

and

High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

Islands of Adventure Universal's Islands of Adventure (also known as Islands of Adventure or IOA), originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part of an ...

. The train on a powered coaster usually picks up electricity from contacts in the rails (similar to an

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

or a

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

) and may contain multiple motors. Some powered coasters are powered by a flexible cable connected to the train. Another component of powered coasters is an extra "track" in the center of the rails. This allows the tyres attached to the motor to "grip" the track and propel the train forward. A powered coaster generally runs a single train and may traverse the circuit multiple times before stopping at the station. In Genting highlands, The Flying Dragon is the world's longest powered roller coaster in terms of ride length but has been demolished. A very rare Powered Coaster was at

Camelot Theme Park Camelot Theme Park was a resort and theme park located in the English county of Lancashire. The park's theme was the well-known legend of Camelot, and the park decor incorporated pseudo-medieval elements. It was located on a site near the vill ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The "Dragon Flyer" ride had diesel engine in the front of the themed dragon and was driven around the track by the ride staff.

Model types

*Larson International -

Fire Ball The Fire Ball is an amusement ride manufactured by Larson International. It replaced a series of Larson rides manufactured prior to its unveiling, the first being the Super Loops and the second being the Ring of Fire. Several variations of each ...

Wisdom Rides Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...

Orient Express
*

Dragon Coaster

Appearances

Santa's Village AZoosment Park Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park (formerly known and colloquially referred to this day as simply Santa's Village) is a theme park in East Dundee, Illinois. It was originally built by Glenn Holland, who also built two other Santa's Villages ...

as "Dracor, the Dragon Coaster" (Zamperla - Dragon Coaster) (1986-2006) and "Dragon Coaster" (Wisdon Rides - DOrient Express) (2011-Present)

External links

List of powered coasters at RCDB
{{Rollercoaster tracks Types of roller coaster