Drachen Fire

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I am glad I got to ride this back in the day. My home park was Kennywood so i was very familiar with the Steel Phantom. I remember enjoying this ride. My brother and I rode it multiple times due to there being no line.

What year was it ripped down? I can't remember if it was still there dormant in 2008
 
I don’t remember much about the speed of DF’s lift, but I do remember noticing in maybe 1996-7 that it was very quiet. It was said here and there that the park had the trains modified to eliminate the clanging noise of high-speed contact between the anti-rollbacks and rack. Not sure if true. But that lift got awfully quiet vs. earlier operating seasons. Kingsmill concession?
 
@halfabee - Here's what was said about that from a poster on /r/rollercoasters that had talked to the designers and lived next door to one of the coaster's mechanics -

Drachen Fire opened with traditional Arrow roll-backs, but the people who live in Kingsmill complaint that the rollbacks were waking them up when they cycled the ride around 4-5am for greentag testing each morning. Following the 1993 season, the park re-designed the rollbacks to be completely silent. The way the new rollbacks worked was that they stayed "up" at all times, unless the train started to roll backwards, at which point they would fall down and engage. This meant the train rolled back slightly harder than normal coasters, and if the train was stopped on the lift very low, it would shake the track so much you could see it vibrating in the station.
 
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That is interesting. I have always wondered why they don't just put like.. some sort of padding on the anti-rollbacks so it isn't metal continuously hitting metal, rather like a plastic strip hitting metal.
 
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I've done the coaster tour at Busch and can confirm that both Nessie and Griffon use a plastic sheath on the anti-rollback device that puts less wear and tear on the actual metal. I'd be willing to assume that at least all of the other B&Ms at the park are the same.
 
Twisted Timbers also has some sort of padding on its anti-rollbacks, which is why the lift is so much quieter this year than it was last year.
 
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Intamin has the patent for rolling anti-rollbacks. As the train moves a wheel in contact with a small track on the lift and station keeps the ARBs up for the whole duration of the lift. If the train loses speed or gets set up then the ARBS lower as the wheel backs down. I imagine Arrow employed a similar method with Drachen Fire that was most likely a one time thing, and Intamin later patented a modern take on the idea.

B&M and some other companies utilize either plastic or sometimes even Kevlar sleeves that get inserted on the ARBs which have a significant impact on the sound of the lift. This is most notable with the Inverts, as their ARBs can sound like machine gun fire when all 4 ARBs are unprotected.
 
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Credit for these post-shutdown Drachen Fire photos taken from the Busch Gardens Railroad goes to "Robbie B." 20 years ago he ran the first Busch Gardens Williamsburg fansite I'm aware of. If anyone knew or knows him, please let me know. I'd love to try to get ahold of his full collection of photos to scan in and share.

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mikes said:
I am glad I got to ride this back in the day. My home park was Kennywood so i was very familiar with the Steel Phantom. I remember enjoying this ride. My brother and I rode it multiple times due to there being no line.

What year was it ripped down? I can't remember if it was still there dormant in 2008
Click to expand...
It is now The Phantoms Revenge! Retracked and layout by Morgan. It is my #3 roller coaster!
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