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A Powered Coaster is a roller coaster
Roller coaster

For Rollercoaster, the wooden rollercoaster at Pleasure Beach Blackpool, see Rollercoaster The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks....
 which relies on a motor in the train to complete the course, often replacing a traditional chain lift hill. This allows for both compact layouts that start out with curving hills, or long, extended layouts that would need too many lifts to be feasible. The most common manufacturers of powered coasters are Mack
MACK Rides

MACK Rides is a Germany company that designs and constructs roller coasters. The family that owns the company also owns Europa Park....
, Wisdom Rides, and Zamperla
Zamperla

Zamperla Rides is a designing and manufacturing company in Vicenza, Italy. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide....
. Due to the family-oriented nature of the rides, height restrictions can be as little as 36 inches or taller for someone to ride.

The most common model of powered coasters is the Zamperla Dragon coasters (also called "Dragon Wagons," although there are non-powered versions of these coasters).






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A Powered Coaster is a roller coaster
Roller coaster

For Rollercoaster, the wooden rollercoaster at Pleasure Beach Blackpool, see Rollercoaster The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks....
 which relies on a motor in the train to complete the course, often replacing a traditional chain lift hill. This allows for both compact layouts that start out with curving hills, or long, extended layouts that would need too many lifts to be feasible. The most common manufacturers of powered coasters are Mack
MACK Rides

MACK Rides is a Germany company that designs and constructs roller coasters. The family that owns the company also owns Europa Park....
, Wisdom Rides, and Zamperla
Zamperla

Zamperla Rides is a designing and manufacturing company in Vicenza, Italy. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide....
. Due to the family-oriented nature of the rides, height restrictions can be as little as 36 inches or taller for someone to ride.

The most common model of powered coasters is the Zamperla Dragon coasters (also called "Dragon Wagons," although there are non-powered versions of these coasters). Other installations include Casey Junior, Le Petit Train du Cirque at Disneyland Park (Paris)
Disneyland Park (Paris)

Disneyland Park is a theme park which is a part of Disneyland Resort Paris. Operated by Euro Disney S.C.A., it is one of two theme parks in the complex just outside of Paris, in Marne-la-Vall?e, France....
 (built by Vekoma
Vekoma

Vekoma Rides Manufacturing B.V. is a roller coaster and thrill ride designer with its facilities based in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld under the name "Veld Koning Machinefabriek" and had first manufactured agricultural machinery and mining equipment....
), Thunder Run
Thunder Run

Thunder Run is a unique Powered Coaster, themed after a runaway mine train, found at Canada's Wonderland, in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Rather than having a traditional chain lift hill, the train has an electric motor onboard....
 at Canada's Wonderland, Runaway Mine Train
Runaway Mine Train (Alton Towers)

The Runaway Mine Train is a powered Steel roller coaster roller coaster made by MACK Rides of Germany. The ride is located in the Alton Towers#Katanga Canyon area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England....
 at Alton Towers
Alton Towers

Alton Towers is a theme park and resort located in the grounds of a former stately home in Staffordshire, England. It attracted 3.1 million visitors in 2008, making it the second most visited theme park in the UK after Pleasure Beach Blackpool....
 and The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride at Islands of Adventure
Islands of Adventure

Universal's Islands of Adventure is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, Florida. It opened in May 1999 as part of an expansion that, along with Universal Orlando Resort#CityWalk and the Portofino Bay and Hard Rock Cafe hotels, converted Universal Studios Florida into the Universal Orlando Resort....
.

The train on a powered coaster usually picks up electricity from contacts in the rails (similar to an electric locomotive
Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from an external source. Sources include overhead lines, third rail, or an on-board electricity storage device such as a battery or flywheel energy storage system....
 or a monorail
Monorail

A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track....
) and may contain multiple motors. Some powered coasters are powered by a flexible cable connected to the train. Another component of powered coasters is an extra "track" in the center of the rails. This allows the motor(s) to "grip" the track and propel the train forward.

A powered coaster generally runs a single train and may traverse the circuit multiple times before stopping at the station.

A very rare Powered Coaster can be found at Camelot Theme Park
Camelot Theme Park

Camelot Theme Park was a resort and theme park located in the English town of Charnock Richard, Lancashire. It was based on the legend of Camelot....
 in England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. The "Dragon Flyer" ride has diesel engine in the front of the themed dragon and is driven around the roller coaster track by the Ride Staff.

Due to the trains not being powered by gravity, many roller coaster enthusiasts do not count powered coasters as part of their "track record" also known as "credits".

Members of the showmen's guild may also hire smaller powered coasters to travel with them whenever they present a funfair. Powered coasters that travel with funfairs are usually slightly smaller, but to make up for this, they circuit the track more.

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