A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
Vuoristorata at Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki, Finland is the oldest wooden roller coaster in the country; it opened in 1951 and is still in operation.
Colossos, one of the world's largest wooden roller coasters at Heide Park, Germany
Thunderbird in the PowerPark amusement park
Son of Beast was a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, United States. Built and designed by the now-defunct Roller Coaster Corporation of America (RCCA), the ride opened as the tallest and fastest wooden coaster in the world on April 28, 2000. Its record-setting height of 218 feet (66 m) made it the first wooden hypercoaster – a height class of 200 feet (61 m) or more. It was also the first wooden coaster in the modern era to feature a vertical loop and reached a record-breaking maximum speed of 78 mph (126 km/h). Son of Beast was marketed and themed as a sequel to The Beast roller coaster, one of the park's signature attractions that was built in 1979.
Son of Beast's track layout with the loop
The broken crate signage at the ride's entrance
The tombstone decoration in Banshee's line queue
Son of Beast's track layout after the loop was removed