Yankee Cannonball

Infobox roller coaster
name = Yankee Cannonball


caption = The Yankee Cannonball Circa 1980
location = Canobie Lake Park
type = Wood
manufacturer = P.T.C.
designer = Herbert Paul Schmeck
model =out and back
status =
opened = 1933
closed =
Operating
height = 60
duration = 1:52
length = 2000
speed =
inversions = 0
capacity =
rcdb_number= 298

Yankee Cannonball is a wooden style sit-down out-and-back style roller coaster built in 1930 and relocated from Lakewood Park and opened in 1936 at Canobie Lake Park.

History

Designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck and supervised by Frank F. Hoover, Yankee Cannonball originally debuted as "Greyhound" and later renamed "Roller Coaster" and became the "Yankee Cannonball" in 1996.The name of the roller coaster at Lakewood park is unknown. but was relocated to Canobie Lake Park in 1933.

Named in commemoration of the American Civil War, the coaster's train colors were originally blue and grey, representing the Union and Confederacy sides of the American Civil War, all being united on the ride's red, white, and blue colored track.

The Yankee Cannonball's lift hill was destroyed by Hurricane Carol in 1954. It was repaired during the following season.

Also, when the ride was moved to canobie, all the parts had to be shortened 6" just so it would fit in its smaller area.

The coaster's original track and car colors have been altered over time with retracking work done on the coaster. As of the 2007 season, the ride structure is white with orange handrails and the trains are green and orange.

Layout

In general, the ride's layout is a basic L shape design, a very common layout of early wooden coasters, featuring airtime hills and banked turns. The total length of the track is 2000 feet.

The train leaves the station and turns right into a 65 foot lift hill leading into the ride's initial 63' 6" drop. Followed by an airtime hill, the ride goes up a second hill, turns 90° to the right, and then drops back down to lead into another airtime hill. After this third airtime hill, the ride goes up another hill, and performs a complete turn around, giving a great view of the parking lot. After the turn around, the coaster enters a series of bunny hills leading into the brake run and station.

Trains

The Yankee Cannonball has 2 trains, each with 3 cars. There are 6 riders per car, for a total of 18 riders per train. The trains were built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters(P.T.C.), Inc. Restraints consist of headrests and lap bars, and in the 2003 season, seat belts were added. After an accident in 2001, where the two trains collided due to the ride operator's failure to engage the brakes [ [http://www.coasterbuzz.com/2003-29-488115.htm CoasterBuzz - Five suffer minor injuries as trains collide at Canobie ] ] , one train was removed and has not been re-added.

References