Vuoristorata (; ) is a classic

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be ...

located at the

Linnanmäki Linnanmäki (, colloquially ''Lintsi'', ) is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on 27 May 1950 and is owned by the non-profit (, ), which operates the park to raise funds for Finnish child welfare work. In 2023, the foundatio ...

amusement park in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It was built in the winter of 1950 by Linnanmäki's staff on the basis of drawings by Valdemar Lebech, a Danish builder specialising in fairground rides. The construction work was led by the Danish ride operator Svend Jarlström, who at the time owned most of Linnanmäki's rides. Opened on 13 July 1951, Vuoristorata was the largest roller coaster in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

and the tallest in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

at the time. Expected to last up to 15 years, it was originally designed as a temporary attraction for the amusement park, opened in 1950. One of the main reasons for its construction was to attract tourists from the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

held in the city. Since then, its temporary status was renewed for extended periods, until it was eventually regarded as a permanent structure. Since its opening in 1951, Vuoristorata has been the most popular ride at Linnanmäki every year, with around 47,000 rides per season. It is the most famous amusement ride in Finland, and a symbol of the Linnanmäki park; even the old park logo had a shape representing the ascents and descents of Vuoristorata. Vuoristorata has never had a name other than the common noun used for

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

s; ''Vuoristorata'' simply means "roller coaster" in Finnish ( vuoristo = mountain range, rata = track; "mountain range track"). Vuoristorata is a slightly larger copy of another roller coaster,

Rutschebanen Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli (), is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

, opened in 1932 at

Dyrehavsbakken (), commonly referred to as (, to distinguish it from Dyrehaven, a royal deer park with public access) is an amusement park in Lyngby-Taarbæk, Denmark, near Klampenborg and approximately north of central Copenhagen. It is located in the s ...

in Denmark. Valdemar Lebech, who designed both of these among a number of other tracks, simply took the original

blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

s of Rutschebanen, enlarged them for Linnanmäki and designed Vuoristorata. Back in the 1950s, Rutschebanen and Vuoristorata were the two tallest roller coasters in Europe; Vuoristorata is 108 metres longer at and two metres taller at . Vuoristorata is also notable for being the last roller coaster in the world to have been built using side friction technology, which means that there are no inclines at the track's turns. Modern roller coasters also have up-stop wheels that hug the bottom of the rail, preventing the train from coming up off the track; Vuoristorata does not have such wheels. On Vuoristorata, braking during the journey is carried out by a

brakeman A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes, brakes on every wagon which could be controlled by the driver, made this role r ...

standing at the rear of the train. Vuoristorata is one of only seven remaining roller coasters in the world still being operated by brakemen; there are five others in

and one in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In the past, there used to be many such roller coasters in the world, but Rutschebanen in Denmark, for example, later got new trains with automatic brakes. In June 2021, Linnanmäki switched to

gender-neutral Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, Gender-neutral language, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) ...

job titles, as a result of which the former title "brakeman" () is now called the "brakemaster" (). During the 2021 season, 16 people worked as brakemasters, including one female. Over the decades, Vuoristorata has been carefully maintained. To ensure safety, all the wooden parts have been regularly replaced; by 2015, each part had been replaced at least five times. All that remains of the original structure from the 1950s are the

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

-framed wooden cars. In order to preserve the original layout, subsequent restorations have been carried out carefully; although all the wooden parts are replacements, they are consistent with the original design and character of the track. Since 2001, Vuoristorata has been among the few roller coasters in the world to have been awarded the

ACE Coaster Classic American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) is a non-profit organization focusing on the enjoyment, knowledge, and preservation of roller coasters as well as recognition of some as architectural and engineering landmarks. Dues-paying members receive th ...

status by the

American Coaster Enthusiasts American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) is a non-profit organization focusing on the enjoyment, knowledge, and preservation of roller coasters as well as recognition of some as architectural and engineering landmarks. Dues-paying members receive th ...

. As of 2022, only nine tracks in Europe and 30 in the world meet the requirements. The track must be of wooden construction, the safety bar must be one-piece and the same for both riders and lockable in only one position, there must be no cup seats or dividers between riders intended to prevent sliding, there must be no headrests on the majority of seats that would obstruct the view of upcoming drops and thrills, and no assigned seating; riders must be free to choose where they sit.

References

External links

*
The Roller Coaster Database's profile
{{ACE Coaster Classics Roller coasters with brakemen Roller coasters in Finland Linnanmäki