 When Rocky Mountain Construction, or RMC, debuted their first original coaster design in 2011 with New Texas Giant, a new precedent was set in the roller coaster industry that is still just as prevalent as ever 10 years later, where huge legacy companies have begun to offer products in direct competition, those once solely provided by RMC. Just two years after the debut of New Texas Giant, Outlaw Run would make its debut in March of 2013 at Silver Dollar City. This was the first of four RMC topper track models that would be built in just a four-year span. Topper track is similar to the company's steel i-box track design, but rather than featuring all steel beams, the topper track features two wooden stacks with a layer of prefabricated steel on top for the trains to run on. This has caused some debate as to whether topper track should actually be considered wood or not, but that is a totally different discussion I am not going to delve into in this video. After the last topper track model opened in 2016, we haven't heard anything about further work on any ground up topper track coasters. In addition, RMC has seemingly changed the focus of the topper track on their website to being targeted towards refurbishments rather than completely new installations, and perhaps most damning of all, one of the most influential entries into the company's portfolio, one of their topper track models, and one of the best coasters in the world, was overhauled recently to now feature no less than 57% of the company's i-box steel track design rather than the original topper track it opened with on 100% of its course just five years prior. In episode 9 of Whatever Happened To, I am going to discuss why I think RMC's ground up topper track models had an initial surge in popularity, why I think they declined in popularity, and whether I think we will see any more installations of ground up topper track designs in the future. When Outlaw runs debut in 2013, it was, by all accounts, a smashing success. I consider this to be the first wooden roller coaster to successfully and seamlessly feature inversions. And not just once, but three times it inverts riders in the form of a 153 degree overbank inversion and a double heartline roll finale. Not only does it feature a relentless, well-paced run deep through the woods, but it broke records at the time for wooden coasters with the three aforementioned inversions and an 81 degree drop, the steepest for a wooden coaster at the time. The drop was also absolutely massive for a wooden coaster at 162 feet off of the 107 foot lift hill and featured a top speed of 68 miles per hour. But Outlaw runs records wouldn't last for long. Just one season later in 2014, Glythe would open at Six Flags Great America. It features an 85 degree drop at 180 feet and a top speed of 72 miles per hour. Glythe would get some criticism and still does today for its short layout and lack of variety, but has been a success for the park nonetheless. 2015 would pass with no new topper track design by RMC, but 2016 would bring two of them that most considered to be the king of the four topper track models built. These are of course, Dollywood's Lightning Rod and Colmarden's Wildfire, which both opened within 15 days of each other in June of 2016. And of course, that's the last we have officially heard of RMC's ground up topper track models, with no evidence of any installations on the horizon. When looking at the timeline of when these rides opened, they seem to be pretty successful for RMC from the start. Four opening within four seasons is certainly not something to be scoffed at, and these are all massive rides. And for the most part, these rides are still serving their audiences fairly well and providing amazing rides. But there is a huge elephant standing right here in front of us, and that is of course the issues that Dollywood have endured with Lightning Rod over its very short lifespan. There is no denying its status as a one of a kind world class attraction, and it has brought many people from around the globe to experience its ferocity. But whether or not you'll actually get a ride on it when you arrive has mostly been a complete flip of a coin. Over the first few years of its existence, Dollywood worked closely with RMC and tried making fairly small adjustments to the ride to improve its reliability, but there were still many issues. And in early 2021, Lightning Rod would receive a huge makeover by RMC in which 2,160 feet of its total 3,800 feet of topper track would be replaced with their all steel i-box track. Many of the ride's most notable elements, including the record breaking drop and launch section, were replaced with the i-box track. I think it is safe to say that these troubles Dollywood has endured and seems to continue to endure to a lesser extent have certainly drawn many potential clients away from the topper track design. Much of Lightning Rod's track was replaced because the insane forces were just too much for the topper track to endure. It is simply much easier and more cost effective to build these rides with the i-box track from the start in order to ensure a longer lifespan and make them easier to maintain. Not to mention that besides enthusiasts, most people do not know the difference between i-box track and topper track, and it also doesn't matter to them. Many of the general public will still think an i-box track coaster is a wooden coaster because of the support structure. It does, however, make a lot of sense for parks to replace sections of their traditional wooden roller coasters that take a lot of work to maintain with portions of the topper track, which of course it looks like RMC is now targeting as the main focus of this track per their website. Whether or not you like the thought of that, I think this is certainly going to become pretty common practice over the next decade or so as amusement parks, which are of course businesses, try to find ways to more efficiently allocate their costs. This method allows the parks to replace the track with material that lasts much longer and requires less maintenance than traditional wooden coaster track. And being traditional wooden coasters, the forces will certainly be acceptable for the topper track designs endurance. It seems that RMC is still willing to build a ground-up topper track design should a park want that, even though they're trying to steer away from that model, but I believe much more consideration would be given to what types of elements would be implemented into future designs should the time come to decide that to prevent another situation like lightning rod, which is very damaging for both RMC's reputation and the business of Dollywood. In conclusion, I don't believe we will see any major resurgence of the ground-up topper track designed by RMC at any point soon. As great as this idea may have seemed at the start due to being able to give parks a wooden coaster without as much upkeep year after year, it just didn't sustain its popularity after that initial surge for a variety of factors, and it seems some of RMC's other models are more viable and cost-effective. Be sure to let me know what you think about RMC's topper track and whether or not you think more of these should be constructed. Thanks so much for watching. This is CoasterDaddy. Bye.