The Comet is a
wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
roller coaster located at
Waldameer Park
Waldameer & Water World is an amusement park and water park in Erie, Pennsylvania located at the base of Presque Isle. Waldameer is the fourth oldest amusement park in Pennsylvania, the tenth oldest in the nation, and one of only thirteen trol ...
in
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It was designed by
Herbert Schmeck and built by the
Philadelphia Toboggan Company
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia ...
in 1951.
It is similar to other Schmeck-designed PTC junior wooden coasters which feature a layered, figure-8/oval layout. However, the Comet is taller than the previous junior wooden coaster designs.
[ The Comet is an ACE Coaster Classic.
]
Layout
The ride begins with a right turn out of the station onto a lift hill. It then drops and heads back up into a left turn which faces a parking lot. It drops again, into an airtime hill, and heads back up into a right turn over the station. Then it drops into a series of two bunny-hops and heads up into a right curve that is directly underneath the left curve that comes after the lift hill. It then drops and heads into a final bunny-hop before reaching the brakes, and curves right into the station. In its 1:24 duration, it reaches a top speed of over of track.
Trains
Comet has two Junior PTC trains of four cars, all of which utilize flanged wheels. Each car has two seats that can hold two riders, for a maximum of 16 riders per train. Although the park owns two trains, for several years, only one was placed into daily operation, as park management was not comfortable running two trains with manually operated skid brakes.
Braking system
For the 2012 season, the Comet received an updated braking system from Velocity Magnetics. The new system uses a combination of magnetic and friction brakes, and along with a new control system, allows for two-train operation on busy days.
See also
* Little Dipper (Six Flags Great America) (similar design)
References
{{ACE Coaster Classics
Roller coasters in Pennsylvania