This is my recreation of the Wildcat coaster that was at a bygone, defunct park in Dayton, Ohio called Lakeside Park. It finally closed in 1964.
I found on the Internet that this was the 85th Philadelphia Toboggan Coaster and it was designed by Herbert Schmeck. Herbert Schmeck! What a great designer he was!
I could only find two photos of the Wildcat coaster to make this recreation so it may differ slightly from the real Wildcat.
As you exit the ride you'll see two red boards overhead. Don't worry. You won't hit your head because these boards are ten feet off the ground.
I don't know if the coaster had an emergency brake but I put one on the double dip under the lift hill. Also don't worry about this because the track is straight. Check out the brake in the dip on the Texas Giant on rcdb.com. I was surprised to see it there in the dip. Wow! They put those trim brakes everywhere, don't they?
I know the old PTC coasters had skid brakes. I just didn't feel like going into all that detail on this coaster. I wish NL had skid brakes and some of the old coaster trains, especially the old National Amusement Device trains with the headlights on the front car. Maybe we'll see that one day.
This is not one of my better recreations. But it does gives you an idea of what the Wildcat was like.
HINT: You will notice that all my vertical posts in the coaster station and under the brake roof appear straight, in other words, at right angles to the position of the station and brake roof. That's because I double clicked on all the posts and rotated each one to the proper position. If I had not done this, the posts would have appeared to be twisted.
Also notice how the walkboards and handrail get darker as you get farther into the tunnel. That's because I decreased the luminance of their color.
And finally, notice how the train starts very slowly on the lift chain when the emergency brakes are released. That's the way a real train starts up after it has been stopped on the chain. I accomplished this by decreasing the acceleration down to .002.
Trackwalker, you have the feel of the old fashion rides. I have to many defunct rides on my list. you have the look and feel that Bobcoaster and Steve benham in there rides.
This was a good ride. I don't know a whole lot about the original one but I found that the supports and colors that you used made the ride come alive. The brakes were a cool touch.
I noticed those tunnels in the picture also Bob, but I decided not to add them for some reason, probably for the reason you mentioned. I did not know if they were added later or were originally with the ride when it was built.
I sort of had to guess about the spiral at the end of the ride because I didn't have a clear view of that part of the track. I knew it had to have a lot more track because if it hit the brake after that double dip under the lift hill, it would be going way too fast.
I also wasn't sure of the emergency brake but thought that would be a good place for one.
After I built the coaster I found out from Robert Cartmell's book that the lift hill was 84 feet 2 inches, within a foot of my model. I estimated the height of the coaster just by counting the horizontal 2x6's on the side of the lift hill and then multiplying by 6 feet, since I knew they were spaced 6 feet apart. As you know, No Limits spaces them 10 feet apart, not exactly correct but OK for a sim.
I checked out the photo and plans for the ride as found in Scott Rutherford's book, the American Roller Coaster. This is almost dead-on for the layout and profile! The only difference I found was that the first tunnel in reality was almost parallel to the station. I can't say anything about check brakes, but that doesn't really matter. The photo I have also shows (and that was typical of Schmeck's coasters - a fact I don't understand) very short tunnels on the lower track at each crossover. Originally, the Idora Wildcat was like that, too. Aren't crossovers enhanched by the visuals? Tunnels hide that, although the tunnel on the KD Grizzly hides a better surprise than the fact that you're crossing below another track. Anyway, this is beautifully done, from a gorgeous station, to accuracy in the ride, to all the proper supporting. This is fun, and gives us all a chance to learn something about a long defunct coaster. I'm not sure, if it still stood, that it would rank up there with today's best, nor do I even imagine it would rank with the Idora ride, but thanks for providing this!
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