Of the 167 wooden roller coasters in existence, 15 are in Pennsylvania, blowing away any other political subdivision in the world – the closest is the United Kingdom, with nine.
To support its record-setting fleet, the Commonwealth also boasts an assortment of companies that are major suppliers to the coaster industry, making the Keystone State an improbable bedrock of an unusual industry.
Perhaps roller-coaster builder is right up there with superhero and rockstar on the list of unlikely dream careers, but, as a poor kid growing up in rural Kentucky, it's what Chris Gray wanted to do.
And, so help him, he did.
Now, as the director of procurement and also of mechanical building at Sunbury-based
Great Coasters International, Inc., he creates the models for, orders the pieces to and often gets to ride the newest, biggest, cutting-edge wooden coasters in the world.
"This is what I wanted to do since I was kid. I can't imagine designing highway bridges. I think I'd get bored really quickly," he says. "I kept all of my notebooks from high school. I had doodles of roller coasters in them. I probably doodled more roller coasters than I took notes as a kid."
That passion brought Gray, after joining a coaster-enthusiasts club as a kid, a tour in the Navy and an education in mechanical drafting, to Great Coasters and its well-hidden headquarters on rural state Route 890.
"I think a lot of people are just completely shocked that we exist in Sunbury," he says. "There's nothing out there but Amish people."
Having worked on more than 50 wooden coasters around the world, including the
Lightning Racer and the
Wildcat at
Hersheypark, the company has a unique niche in the industry. It's currently working on a $10 million dual racer in Holland that's 98 feet tall and 3,000 feet long.
"We are the last design-build company left in the world for traditional wooden roller coasters," Gray says. "Everything it takes to make the ride physically happen, we take care of."
But there are several other industry leaders hidden around the Pennsylvania coal country. Great Coasters sends much of its machining and fabrication work down state Routes 61 and 125 to
Ashland Technologies in equally remote Hegins.
The Schuylkill County manufacturing company, which also produces gyroscope rides and other amusement-industry pieces, builds, welds, machines and powder-coats cars and other parts of coasters in-house. That comprehensiveness reduces the lag time associated with shuttling pieces between facilities, while its proximity to Great Coasters means issues are resolved quickly. "If there's an issue or something we need to talk about, we get face-to-face instantly," Ashland President Bill Wydra Jr. said.
He added that his business background helps the shop maximize resources and complete contracts on time and within specifications. "There's no way without all those facilities under one roof that we could be as efficient as we are making those rides," he says. "I think that's one of the main reasons all these shops are interested in working with us."
The relationship with Great Coasters is beneficial, but somewhat coincidental. "If they weren't here, I'm not sure that we'd be involved at all," Wydra says. "I believe we sent them a fax saying, 'We're really cool, check us out.' And it just happened to be the right place at the right time. At that point, we didn't really have much of a focus in any given industry."
Now, the coaster industry makes up about 80 percent of the business's work. It also focuses on the food service industry, but, as Wydra points out, "we would consider ourselves now as part of the amusement industry."
For
Ralph S. Alberts Company, Inc., the coaster industry is more than a source of contracts. It's probably what keeps alive the foam molding company based in Montoursville, a straight drive up Interstate 180 from Sunbury. "If not for the amusement park industry, I'm not sure we'd survive in times we're in right now," company president Ed Alberts says. "It was a huge shot in the arm, financially, to the business to get involved in it."
About 30 years ago, Hersheypark called about rehabilitating the foam padding on some of its rides, Alberts says. "Hershey started spreading our name around to local Pennsylvania parks," he says. "Word of mouth and a couple of trade shows, and business really just got rolling. … It's one of the best things that happened to the company in (its) 40 years."
Now, about half of its business comes from building or rehabbing coaster padding, Alberts says. "We have the lion's share of (refurbishing work) in the United States," he says of a market that can range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million depending on the season. "There's not a park in the United States that you're going to go to and not see a part that we worked on."
Because each rehab job is low-volume and unique, Alberts says it deters foreign outsourcing. "It's all these unique little niches that we find ourselves in … that help give us some security from offshore competition."
In fact, Pennsylvania craftsmanship has helped get foreign projects outsourced to here. Tom Rebbie, who owns the world's oldest amusement manufacturer in Hatfield-based
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc., says one of the greatest compliments the company ever received came when a foreign coaster builder was forced to use his coaster cars if it wanted a contract from an amusement park.
Beyond that, Rebbie's 105-year-old company recently built the first wooden coaster in Shanghai, China. In fact, 63 percent of the world's wooden coasters were either built by PTC or has its cars "rolling around on them," Rebbie said.
While Philadelphia Toboggan and Great Coasters compete, Rebbie says they're also friendly. Several Great Coasters employees worked previously at Philadelphia Toboggan. "The amusement industry, everybody's competitive, but you also have strong friendships. I've never looked at them as anything other than friends," says Rebbie, who's owned his company for the 18 years and worked there for an additional 15.
What initiated Pennsylvania's dominance in the coaster world? Rebbie chalked it up to coincidence, but Gray believes it was the past prevalence of amusement parks in the coal region. The common thread that binds them is a love for the job. Gray and Wydra talk about a passion for the industry, while Alberts and Rebbie mention a sense of accomplishment.
"I'm still looking for a better job," Rebbie says, "just haven't found it yet."
Rory Sweeney writes on energy and the environment when he's paid to and sits
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Photos:Great Coasters International, Inc. Director of Procurement and Assembly Chris Gray
Chris Gray assembled this scale wood mock up of a proposed coaster project on display at his office
CAD drawing of a proposed coaster for a client
Chris Gray at his office with a CAD drawing of a proposed coaster for a client
All Photographs by Brad Bower