Psyclone

Psyclone was a wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Opened in 1991, it was patterned after the legendary Coney Island Cyclone. The Psyclone featured 11 hills, 5 high-speed banked turns, and a 183-foot long pitch black tunnel. It also had the only wooden roller coaster trains ever built by Bolliger & Mabillard. The ride sustained structural damage after the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and though repaired to operate safely again, the ride dynamics suffered greatly in regard to vehicle tracking. Major modifications happened, including adding trim brakes that slowed the trains down to the point of making the trains crawl through each turn. The heavy trains took their toll on the track structure, and the coaster became very rough. Because of this, ridership at the attraction had drastically declined, due in part to having earned a poor reputation among park visitors and also due to the fact that ride operators at the ride were required to load a minimum of 17 passengers in the train prior to dispatch. This policy was enforced to reduce the chances of the vehicles from stalling mid-ride due to lack of momentum.