Steel Dragon 2000 to Receive B&M Trains

For only the second time in the company’s history, Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) will provide trains for a coaster that they did not build. Steel Dragon 2000 at Japan’s Nagashima Spa Land will open this year sporting two new, sleek B&M trains.

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The trains seat 28 riders. Riders will sit two-abreast like some of the newer B&M mega coaster trains, but do not feature the “v” shape of trains on coasters such as Behemoth or Diamondback.

Steel Dragon 2000, a Morgan coaster, opened only months after Cedar Point’s Millennium Force, taking the “world’s tallest coaster” title. However, the coaster did not operate from 2003 to 2006 due to a sheered axle that caused one of the train’s cars to lose a wheel.

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© Vertical Horizons

Vertical Horizons managed to capture a photo of the new trains. Those are B&M trains, no doubt.

So which non-B&M coaster was the first to receive B&M trains? It was Psyclone, the Dinn Corporation wooden coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It was torn down in 2006. Hopefully Steel Dragon 2000 will fare better.

Could this be a new business venture for Bolliger & Mabillard? Which coaster would you like to see receive B&M trains? Share your ideas in the comments section below.

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