Perhaps the most well known feature of Arrow coasters are the sounds of their lift hill and their brake fins. Each has a distinct sound on every one of their styles of coasters, and each does their part in helping with the speed of the train. Those factors and more will be discussed in this edition of Loop & Corkscrew, which is subsequently the first blog of the new decade. Therefore, I hope you enjoy reading it.

The first topic of discussion is the common lift hill found on most Arrow coasters. Obviously the lift hill's main purpose is to guide the train to the top, and it is composed of a chain which is moved by one large wheel at the top, and a large wheel with several small ones at the bottom. Typically the wheels and chain return run underneath the lift hill and the return is often hung a few feet below it by means of wires and an occasional connection to the scaffold supports. However, on suspended coasters, the wheels are mounted above each end of the track, as shown to the left. The chain return is a few feet over the track and is connected to the spine rather than the scaffolding. Either way, the chain is always joined with an anti-rollback beside it. It is often this anti-rollback that creates the unique clacking sound that is heard on Arrow's looping, suspended, mine train and hyper coasters. The sound tends to vary for each style, but all in all it is the lift hill. And just as the lift hill guides the train forward, the brakes are assigned to slow the train down.

The brakes are often seen at the end of the ride in the form of the brake run. Each brake pinches and releases the train accordingly by means of two fins, and each are controlled by pressure containers which are usually mounted below the brake itself. Brakes are meant to stop the train, but are often used to control the trains speed on Arrow coasters. Occasionally trim brakes are used such as on Iron Dragon and Magnum XL-200, but more often than not, there is a mid course brake run. This brake run is specifically designed to slow the train down enough so that it acts as a block brake. It is often seen on longer Arrow coasters which can run more than two trains at once. Because Arrow often purposely designs the brakes to slow the train to a near stop (depending on how the park operates the ride), the rest of the course is designed to not excede the height of the MCBR, and is often where smaller inversions such as batwings and corkscrews are used. Likewise, on hypercoasters it is often the location of smaller bunny hops. Arrow's brake fins are famous for the sound they produce, which usually comes from the friction as the fins hit the train. The sound itself is a unique quality found only on Arrow coasters, as well as the sound of the lift hill. So, with the brakes and lift hill having been discussed, this concludes all the aspects of how a typical Arrow coaster runs. Thus, next week's edition will focus on the multiple coasters and models Arrow produced. Stay tuned.