Wood Express construction at Parc Saint-Paul

Introduction

This year, you'll be able to follow the construction of the new wooden coaster at Parc Saint-Paul, the Wood Express.

The english version of this post is now completed. If you find any mistakes or misspellings, please excuse us, as we write mainly in French for that kind of reports 😜

8 octobre 2021 : Fin du dossier

We close this construction file in style with the onride video of the Wood Express made in June 2021 before the reopening of Parc Saint Paul. A big thank you to all the teams of the park for the confidence they give us in the realization of such images! The Wood Express is now waiting for you to enjoy it as much as possible by visiting it 😉

Jun. 8th, 2020: Second train photos

The park shared pictures of the arrival of the second train where you can see more details about the color: it is a silver train that will accompany the golden train.

On this date, Korey Kiepert is currently on site for the installation on the tracks.

Jan. 21st, 2020: Second train for the 2020 season

The park shared pictures of the construction of the second train for the Wood Express on its Facebook Page. The wait will be now even shorter to ride the greatest coaster of the park!

Jul. 1st, 2018: Public opening

Caroline went at the park this day and could ride the new born of Parc Saint-Paul! Her thoughts: she really loved it, it is punchy, with a lot of jump times throughout the layout! She even brought some rushes.

Jun. 30th, 2018: First rides and conclusive tests

On the evening of the 30th of June, certainly after the park closed, some early riders were able to test and preview the Wood Express. The tests seem conclusive!

Jun. 21st, 2018: Hard Hat Tour, second session

On this first day of summer, we are pleased to meet Etienne Montecchio again, operational supervisor of Parc Saint-Paul and also Korey Kiepert, engineer at The Gravity Group. Our visit begins with the discovery of the train and especially the cars, freshly arrived from the United States by plane. At this day, the wooden track is finished and the laying of the steel rails is finalizing. Placing the train on rail is scheduled this early week and the first tests should follow according a specific procedure. First, the train will be installed on the siding, then it will make several trips to the station, to finally head for the lift and perform his first round.

Korey tells us that this wooden ride is small but will be punchy and exciting (he compares it to the Twister at Gröna Lund and Timber at Walibi Rhône-Alpes).

For the anecdote, there is a lot of differences between the beginning of the project and the final product. The statistics announced (height, length, speed and inclination of the turns) are different and have evolved as and when that the design and construction of the ride began. The terrain, which seemed flat at first sight, has an elevation difference of 1 meter over the entire course (in the end, the lift seems higher). But that won't displease us, because all the facts are a little higher than expected and should make this coaster really good. Korey is now in France until the opening and is surrounded by two supervisors, including Jeff Mason (more than 30 years of business in the roller coaster industry), a former from Custom Coaster International who has been there since the beginning of Gravity Group. Among other things, he participated in the construction of Tonnerre de Zeus at Parc Astérix.

As for the opening of the ride, it is scheduled for late June - early July, but especially, as soon as possible. The surroundings of the structure must be marked to secure the public. It still requires the endorsement of the supplier, and test dummies have to ride a hundred times before someone can ride it. There will also be training sessions for park crews to operate and maintain our Wood Express.

Anyway, Gravity Group teams and park teams are excited for the first test runs and public opening. Everyone is working to make everything ready as soon as possible and in the best conditions.

Jun. 8th, 2018

Teams are working hard on the track to meet deadlines. Electricians are in work since a week and are currently installing electric cabinets and wiring of the brakes and mechanical elements.

Many thanks to Étienne from the park to allow us to feed this post thanks to the regular informations and pictures he shares.

Jun. 1st, 2018

Tracking teams are now splitted in 2 to progress faster. Brakes and restarting motors are installed at the end of track. We now have a real visual on the train which will be used! It will leave the USA the next week by cargo-plane.
Previously said in this folder, the finishing is more shiny and more colorful than the train at ZDT Amusement Park.
Not really visible on the current pictures, you'll find some "gold streak" reflects at the back of the seats which are black on the pictures.

May 29th, 2018

Chain lift has been installed on track as well as the anti-rollback system. System engineers will come this 30th of May to install the electrical cabinet and the wiring of the different mechanical parts, which are also currently being installed.

Trackers workers are divided in 3 to progress as fast as possible on the track work.

Korey Kiepert will come back on the 11th/12th of June and will stay until the opening of the ride.

May 19th, 2018

The track building seems to have expanded near the Safari-Trip ride. All the supports have been installed.
Teams are now spread on different points of the site. Some are on the ground to finish the assembly of the structure. They work on the bolting, reinforcing bars… while the others work on the station and the maintenance platform.

The work on the track will be the biggest and heaviest part which is the longest work time.

Workers are actually on the lift to be able to put the chain during the next week.

May 5th, 2018

The park has received the motor of the lift, the chain lift and the brakes. The motor will be installed in the next few days.

Thereafter, the last three containers full of wood are planned to be received on Friday, 11th of May. Once all has been received, the rest of the structure will be able to be built. There will remain the installation of the track, where work has already begun in the station and on the final brakes.

Technical team electricity/controllers of Gravity Group will come on the 25th of May to begin the installation of the electrical cabinets and wiring the elements.

Apr. 25th, 2018: Hard Hat Tour

An hour before the public opening, Etienne Montecchio, operational supervisor of Parc Saint-Paul, offered us to wear a hard hat for a walk on the construction site of Wood Express. Besides the exceptional view angles, it is the discussion we had with him and Korey Kiepert, engineer at The Gravity Group (and one of the main four founders), which have brought interesting details. We were able to get answers about some questions that tapped our mind.

The project

With an initial height restriction of 100 cm, the park raised it up to 110 cm (≈ 5 years old) because the direction wanted a slight more intense layout.
Nevertheless, the ride will stay focus as a family ride being thrilling at the same time.

At the beginning, the project had to be as the same size as the Wooden Warrior of Quassy, but Parc Saint-Paul wanted to build something a bit bigger, and the park events affords the luxury to make a ride greater than Timber at Walibi Rhône-Alpes. The park met Korey Kiepert for the development project at the EAS 2013 in Paris, and many more manufacturers. They tried to contact with Maurer Söhne, Mack Rides, Gerstlauer… even Vekoma, but their backlogs were full and frozen for at least 3 years (mandatory path to Stengel's offices for most of them). Mack Rides didn't answer the park, and Maurer told directly their project wasn't big enough. The Gravity Group has been privileged for a project of "this size" and for the shortest delays. Plus, the company has been chosed because the park wanted a wooden coaster and not a steel one.

Good to know: to the opposite of many big manufacturers, which are going to Stengel's offices, Korey design himself the layout of the ride.

The park lost a bit of time because three years ago, they were thinking about building a wooden coaster between the park entrance and the Wild Train. Then, they thought about placing a compact layout near the bumper cars and both sides of the river. At the actual construction site, they planned a tiger exhibition with rocks theming. But everything was complicated and Korey offered a really interesting solution (the actual one) where the park jumped on it. Three versions of the Wood Express have been offered before the final layout.

Construction site

The building is progressing pretty well as being shown on the pictures. It is good to know that even if we see a clearly great progress, everything is far from being finished: installing supports and catwalks is really fast to do but installing the track is the longest part of the job. This task will be done after the installation of the mechanical parts (brakes, lift, motor…) which will arrive beginning of May. That's why the priority is to complete all the part near the station because checks will be made on these areas with the arrival of the system engineer. By designing the first version of the layout, Korey thought that the grass field was all flat, but it has many levels of height. That changes some elevations for the hills of the coaster.
The Gravity Group didn't know Parc Saint-Paul before the project development. Korey had to move at the park to get a better feeling about the terrain to optimize calculations depending of the ground for building.

The engineer, arrived in September 2017, only comes a few weeks at the park. Nevertheless, he stays in touch with the site supervisor. Remote working is possible thanks to Skype conferences. Progress is non stop thanks to a good communication each other.

Wood Express is quite an international project implying French, Polish, Mexicans and American people.

Foundations

Étienne explained us why a unified concrete base was used for foundations: Wood Express is built on a swampy area. That's why it was needed to stabilize everything first, by creating this reinforced soil with steel foundations. This makes a stronger artificial soil.

From a technical point of view, the concrete base allows to dig less in the ground because it's already stable by doing so. It also allows Korey to come back later with his equipment and to know the exact locations of the foundations on the ground. This helps the engineer to build the structure perfectly, opposite to the use of unique concrete foundations, which can have slight variations of height. This means a gain of time and money. The assembly of the structure is also easier and faster to make. It takes several hundred euros for each foundation on wooden coasters using the process to pour concrete for each base on the ground. Try to imagine multiplying the price with the number of foundations…

Korey uses the process of the unique concrete on others coasters which are way bigger than Wood Express.

The layout

The engineer often makes sure the final ride is better than the videos or virtual demos.

10% of the layout has been modified compared to the demo video, especially because of the terrain configuration. The layout almost occupies all of the grass space there was before. The second part of the layout isn't up yet and will almost touch the queue line of the Safari-Trip ride. By going further in the track, Korey shows us his enthusiasm about a particular spot of the track: a fast turn through the structure, near the ground and quite powerful because the rail is inclined at 69°. This is noticeable by seeing how the supports will hold the rail.

Passing under the climb that will host the lift, Korey shows us the area where will be installed the main engine of it.

Wood x Steel

Do you know what are the advantages of having a hybrid coaster of this kind? The steel does not need to be reworked and cut once arrived on site unlike wood. This makes it possible to mount the structure more quickly to meet the deadlines. In addition, the maintenance is much less restrictive because there is no need to tighten the bolts frequently, as one would do on a full wood structure. However, the wood absorbs noise more effectively, which means that the Wood Express is likely to be a little noisier than conventional wooden coasters. The supports are also made in USA.
Another point: the steel supports take less surface because they do not have to use "extra supports".

The engineers of The Gravity Group admit trying to make the best possible coasters and they say they are better at it using wood. In comparison, RMC is more gifted with steel, and make more steel than wood. To quote Korey:

A wooden coaster is a wooden because the rails are on its wooden slats. Otherwise, it's steel. The structure may be wooden, if the rails are steel, it is a steel. Gemini (Cedar Point) is a steel with wooden supports. The Cyclone of Coney Island is on a metal structure but with rails placed on strips of wood so it's a wooden.

The rails of wooden coasters (well, at The Gravity Group) are placed on eight strips of wood. The wood used is the southern yellow pine.

About the train

Like told in the previous chapters, the train will be the exact same as the Switchback: a Timberliner train, which will have 12 seats.

It will be shiny black and not matte like ZDT, and will have more "flashy" yellow colors, striking in the eye.
Anecdote from Korey: Timberliners trains always successfully complete the tour in the early laps.

Gilles Campion thinks that only one train will be enough. The budget has been spent in the layout rather than the purchase of a second train. The option is provided, and all the system is ready to accommodate a second train when management has noticed that the influx becomes too important.

Queue line, theme and products

No theme is expected in the queue line and the park assumes it: this one will be a cattle park. But it will go along the track, which will ensure a small show when guests wait. Wood being the main point, this element will surround the line and the ride.

Be aware that no merchandising is planned around the Wood Express at first. No logo is planned either. The park remains aware that it will attract people that are not the types to buy these types of souvenirs. This ride was designed with the goal of attracting families more than coasters fans. That's why no derivative products on the ride have been planned. The idea of making fifty T-Shirts is in the head of Étienne but no more.

Opening

Once the ride will be validated by security checks, it will open right behind. The park trusts Korey who keeps the opening date for the 1st of July 2018.

The park is aware that everything which surrounds the ride won't be nice to look at the opening, but it will open - the expected satisfaction being the one of "normal" guests more than coasters fans. After putting millions in this project and all these months of work, the park just wants to open the machine, which is the essential part. Everything that beautifies around the ride will be done soon.

At the time of writing, Korey already came back at home in the United States. He will come back in May and in June. From June, he will stay longer until the opening of the ride.

Thanks

We would like to thank Parc Saint-Paul, including Étienne since the creation of this post, for inviting us to this Hard Hat Tour of Wood Express.

We enjoyed interacting with these people who shared a lot of information you read, and who do a lot of work behind it. All this hard work to give us the greatest satisfaction possible as guests!

Apr. 20th, 2018

First visit on site to see the progress of the work. The Gravity Group team and its engineer Korey Kiepert are on site, and a French team is taking care of the earthworks.
We begin to guess the curves, the lift and the first drop. The second part of the course (Safari-Trip side) isn't fully assembled yet.

Mar. 31st, 2018

• The park has received a large number of containers in the last 15 days. The material (steel and wood) begins to occupy space in the event space that serves as a warehouse and workshop.
• A crane made its appearance on the construction site Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of the last week of March. The pictures show the carrier structure of the lift as well as the first drop, which are practically mounted.
• The rain, the wind and the cold did not facilitate the work of the workers at height. Next week will be dedicated to the installation of new structural elements on the ground that will have to be hoisted at the end of the following week.
• Mechanical elements and track support beams are expected within 10 to 15 days in other containers. After their delivery, new teams (Gravity Group + internal workers) will arrive in mass to give a boost to the elevation of the structure. Much of the steel structure is expected to be completed by the end of April. This will give you a very precise idea of the final layout. Will remain the longest work: the creation of the wooden track itself.
• The main goal of the park has not changed: the Wood Express is scheduled to open in late June / early July. The park hopes that the external elements (weather, delays in transport and other hazards) will not disrupt all this small program.
• We are getting closer and closer to a site visit: this can be expected once the container of wooden support elements received, and the installation of additional poles completed. Korey Kiepert, one of the founders of The Gravity Group and the chief engineer on the Wood Express project, will be back in less than three weeks. This could be the perfect time to discover all this evolution and make a meeting 🙂

Mar. 13th, 2018

At the opening of Wood Express, only one train is planned on the track. But the park has still considered preparing the circuit to accommodate a second train in the future by adding additional brakes and a suitable automaton system.
Don't expect an official attraction logo right now, the park will work on it for later.

Mar. 9th, 2018

The park has officially communicated to us that the train will have the same shape as the Switchback from ZDT's Amusement Park (Texas). Namely, a small locomotive for the leading car and two more cars to reach a total capacity of 12 seats. The colors will be different: golden reflections are provided on the sides and back of the seats "to give a side a little more tinsel".
To get an idea of the train, take a look at the park brochure below!

Feb. 22nd, 2018

The first teams of The Gravity Group are currently completing the implementation of future posts on foundations. 70% has been made. Four containers filled with wood are expected to arrive in the middle of next week. The first carriers will arrive in two weeks. Nevertheless, the park has already received some steel elements.

Vertical construction is planned to begin during mid-March as ground assembly work must be done beforehand.

Feb. 1st, 2018

Be aware that with the arrival of this ride, it is not planned, for now, to remove Pax rides (Wild Train, Coaster Formule 1 and La Tour Descente Extrême).

The Wood Express is built by the American company The Gravity Group. The track will length 500 meters with 13 air times points, a first drop of 15 meters for a max speed of 60 km/h.

The first members of The Gravity Group team have just arrived on Monday, February 5th. For 2 weeks, they will begin to locate the pillars and drill the anchors on the concrete slabs. The rest of their team arrives at the end of the month.
The materials needed for construction (wood and steel) are still in containers on the ocean.

About the train color, the park is still working on it.

On these pictures of January, you can see the first concrete steps that begin to come out of the ground. 35% of the surface of the plateau is floored, which corresponds to the station, the technical area, the lifting and a turn. The foundation work continues in parallel with the beginning of the vertical construction.