Have you ever seen a roller coaster train that hung from below its track? If not, you must think that is a zany idea. However, if you are a roller coaster enthusiast, you not only know about such a roller coaster, you are probably well aware of the legendary ride called the Bat, a now-legendary suspended roller coaster that spent a few brief years at King’s Island in Ohio.
The Bat has been popularized as the first suspended roller coaster but, in fact, it was not. Germany’s Alpenflug, built in 1975, was a suspended roller coaster that ran six years before the Bat (but was closed after only a couple weeks). Going further back in history, one finds Bisby’s Spiral Airship in Long Beach California, which opened in the late 1800s and resembled a modern suspended roller coaster. So, why has the Bat maintained an almost cult-like following? Well, the ride survived only a few years, was plagued with problems, relatively few ever got to actually experience riding the coaster and, yet, many have deemed it one of the most exciting suspended roller coasters ever built.
Arrow Dynamics, which was an important roller-coaster designer and manufacturer, had been testing the concept of the suspended roller coaster for a while before the Bat’s opening at King’s Island in April 1981. The design of the hanging cars allowed for the passenger cabin to swing left and right. For example, if the track made a left turn, the Bat’s cars would swing, quite abruptly in some cases, to the right. Making matters all the worse for the ride is that the track was unbanked, further aggravating the strain on the trains’ shock absorbers. Another issue was that the track and its metal supports were strained during as the cars swung under the track. As the cars sped up to 35 miles-per-hour, physical forces made the cars swing left and right by many dozens of degrees on the turns. The fierce swinging led to great wear on the cars’ shock absorbers, which had to be replaced frequently. This issue, among with a host of other mechanical and technical issues, led to the ride being closed for maintenance many times during the few seasons during which the ride operated.
The Bat suffered another significant flaw, and that was the design of the braking system as it relates to the roller coaster cars. Because the brake fins were placed at the bottom of the cars (which swung, bear in mind), a great deal of strain was placed upon the wheels as the cars entered a brake block. Before long, small cracks were being found on the wheels and the chassis of the cars.
Though nobody was ever injured or killed because of the ride or its problems, the ride last operated in 1983. King’s Island closed the ride in 1984 and tore the ride down over the following two years due to the obvious design flaws, maintenance issues, and frequent temporary closures.
1984, the year of the Bat’s permanent closure, did see the opening of two suspended roller coasters that—unlike the Bat—did see success and longevity: AstroWorld’s XLR-8 and Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Big Bad Wolf. Though the XLR-8 was closed and torn down after the park closed down, the Big Bad Wolf continues to operate to this day, remaining one of the most popular suspended roller coasters ever built. Why did the XLR-8, Big Bad Wolf, and other suspended roller coasters since built go on to thrive while the Bat began suffering fatal problems only weeks after its opening? Because designers changed two major things about suspended-coaster design: the newer tracks are now banked on the turns, and the train cars’ braking mechanisms are located above the cars, near the track.
Suspended roller coasters have not been built in recent years, but not because of any problems stemming from mechanical, design, or technical issues. Rather, the advent of the popular concept of the inverted roller coaster in the 1990s led to fewer parks demanding the construction of suspended roller coasters; inverted roller coasters have cars which, though mounted to the underside of the track, do not swing (the riders still sit right side up though, as is the case with the suspended roller coasters).
Though the Bat ultimately failed to stand up to the tests of time, physical ability, practicality, and mechanical and technical integrity, the now-legendary King’s Island roller coaster remains to this day important in roller coaster history as a pioneering ride that helped launch a generation of suspended roller coasters that continue to thrill millions of people around the world.
Resources:
“The Bat (King’s Island).” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat_(Kings_Island)
Kay, James. Coaster Globe. “The History of the Suspended Roller Coaster.” http://www.coasterglobe.com/features/history-suspended/
