Steel Curtain (roller coaster)

Steel Curtain
Kennywood
Location	Kennywood
Park section	Steelers Country
Coordinates	40°23′21″N 79°51′59″W / 40.3892°N 79.8665°W / 40.3892; -79.8665Coordinates: 40°23′21″N 79°51′59″W / 40.3892°N 79.8665°W / 40.3892; -79.8665
Status	Operating
Soft opening date	July 12, 2019 (2019-07-12)
Opening date	July 13, 2019 (2019-07-13)
Replaced	Log Jammer
General statistics
Type	Steel
Manufacturer	S&S - Sansei Technologies
Designer	Joe Draves
Height	220 ft (67 m)
Drop	205[1] ft (62 m)
Length	4,000 ft (1,200 m)
Speed	75 mph (121 km/h)
Inversions	9
Duration	2:00
Height restriction	52–77[2] in (132–196 cm)
Trains	2 trains with 6 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 24 riders per train.
Theme	Pittsburgh Steelers
Steel Curtain at RCDB Pictures of Steel Curtain at RCDB

Steel Curtain is a steel roller coaster at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The coaster was designed by S&S - Sansei Technologies, and reaches 220 feet (67 m), with nine inversions. Themed to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the ride is located on the former site of the Log Jammer, a flume ride which closed in 2017.

History[]

After the closure of Log Jammer in September 2017, demolition began in January 2018 to make room for a new attraction in 2019.^[3] In June 2018, Kennywood revealed a teaser campaign called Project 412, in which a virtual scratchcard would have a box removed every Thursday to reveal a new clue about the upcoming attraction.^[4] On July 19, 2018, it was announced that Steel Curtain would be coming to Kennywood as part of a new Steelers County area.^[5][6] The roller coaster is named after the defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team from the 1970s, which was nicknamed the Steel Curtain.^[7]

Track pieces for Steel Curtain arrived at the park in August 2018.^[8] In November 2018, vertical construction began,^[9] and the front car of a train was placed on display at the annual International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions expo in Orlando, Florida.^[10] The first inversion, the coaster's cutback, was completed the following month.^[11] By March 2019, the tallest point of the ride was topped off.^[12] Originally scheduled to open in April 2019, delays in construction and testing pushed the opening to the summer.^[13] Testing began shortly after the final piece of track was installed in June 2019.^[14][15] The materials required to build Steel Curtain included 152 concrete footers, 113 pieces of track that weighed 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) each, and over 21,000 bolts.^[16]

Steel Curtain opened to the public on July 13, 2019, with a soft opening held the previous day for the press and enthusiasts.^[17] A technical issue on opening day, in which one of the trains stopped momentarily while climbing the lift hill, resulted in the ride closing for the rest of the day.^[18]

The roller coaster, designed by S&S - Sansei Technologies, features nine inversions, including the highest inversion in the world – a corkscrew at 197 feet (60 m), and reaches a maximum height of 220 feet (67 m).^[19][20] In addition, the ride reaches a maximum speed of 75 mph (121 km/h) and lasts two minutes, although a portion of that is spent on the lift hill.^[21] In the annual Golden Ticket Awards publication from Amusement Today, Steel Curtain placed first in the category "Best New Roller Coaster of 2019".^[22]

On August 3, 2019, Steel Curtain was closed for adjustments. It eventually reopened four days later on August 7.^[23] Steel Curtain is one of several rides that did not operate during the 2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[24]

Characteristics[]

Records[]

Steel Curtain set a number of records when it opened, including becoming the world's tallest inverting roller coaster featuring the world's tallest inversion.^[25] The ride is also the first amusement attraction themed after a professional football team, which opened in a football-themed area named Steelers Country that spans 3 acres (1.2 ha).^[26][27] It is also one of several coasters to feature a banana roll element, with other examples including Takabisha at Fuji-Q Highland and TMNT Shellraiser at American Dream Meadowlands.^[28]

Trains[]

Steel Curtain has two trains, where riders are seated two across in each row with two rows per car. Both trains contain six cars for a total of 24 riders per train. The restraint system consists of hydraulic-locking lap bars and a seatbelt. Each train is painted black with yellow and white stripes to resemble a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. The seats were designed to resemble a football, with laces painted in the headrests over a brown background. The front car of each train has a number painted on it, and one has the number 33 to represent 1933, the year that the Pittsburgh Steelers were founded.^[29]

Ride experience[]

The ride begins with the train climbing a 220-foot-tall (67 m) lift hill immediately as it exits the station. The ascent up the hill is occasionally accompanied with the Styx song Renegade. After cresting the hill, it dips slightly and veers left into the world's tallest inversion, a 197-foot (60 m) dive drop element called a "Drachen Fire Dive Drop".^[30] The train drops 205 feet (62 m) out of the inversion. It then banks sharply left, reaching a point close to the ground and traveling back toward the station. It veers left again and enters a banana roll, an element named after its characteristic shape, that inverts riders twice and raises the train to its second-highest point off the ground. Riders descend low to the ground once more into a small airtime hill heading back toward the first drop, entering a sea serpent element with two more inversions. This is followed by an airtime hill and the coaster's sixth inversion, a dive loop that turns the train 180 degrees and sends it back toward the station. After a brief straightaway, riders experience a weightlessness maneuver in a zero-g stall inversion, sometimes referred to as a top gun stall.^[7] The coaster's finale follows, with the train entering a corkscrew and cutback in short succession, completing the eighth and ninth inversions respectively. The cutback ends with a slight jump up onto the final brake run, where the train will make its way back into the station.

References[]