Coaster enthusiasts have claimed for the last several years that new B&M (Bolliger & Mabillard) coasters aren’t as smooth as they used to be with a rattle or shake. Complaints have centered on rides like Penguin Trek at SeaWorld Orlando and Iron Menace at Dorney Park. It seems like sport now every time a new B&M opens, like Tormenta, to wait for reports of if it has the B&M rattle. There has been much speculation as to the cause ranging from issues with the ride bearings or something with the train to inconsistencies with the track gauge causing the train to go “hunting” for center. This rattle is not like riding an old school wooden coaster or anything, but merely a departure from the glass smooth rides B&M has gotten a reputation for over the years. So did something in the design change? Is it a quality control issue? There are rumors of B&M ending a long relationship with track supplier, Clermont Steel, could this all be related?

B&M entered the coaster game in 1990 with its first coaster, Iron Wolf, at Six Flags Great America (which would relocate to become Firebird at Six Flags America). It’s become known for developing several new classes of coasters including the inverted, wing and dive coaster, but all with its unique signature box-style track design. B&M is a Swiss company and even from those early Iron Wolf days it worked the the US based supplier Clemont Steel Fabricators of Batavia, Ohio for its track production on this side of the globe. Clermont was known as Southern Ohio Fabricators at the time, but it was essentially the same group.

There’s a great video online from the American Welding Society where they visit Clermont and Dr. Diabolical from Six Flags Fiesta Texas was under construction. The one thing that struck me in the video was how manual and labor intensive the whole track production process was with the multiple steps involved.

Clermont essentially specializes in roller coaster track in partnership with B&M. However, there are rumors that this relationship is on the rocks and may have ended and that Clermont Steel may be closing as B&M was their primary customer. Nothing has been confirmed though by either B&M or Clermont, but there are a lot of local reports and reports of former employees saying this is the case. Could the reported track issues be to blame? Is it all unrelated? Is it all just smoke and everything is fine between Clermont and B&M?

If Clermont Steel is indeed out of business I have massive sympathy for anyone who may have lost their job. Part of my day job involves metal fabrication and I know when anyone in fabrication struggles a whole web of local businesses can struggle who supply and support them. The average worker probably had little to do with any issues (and that assumes the track was even part of it). No doubt engineers have or will get to the bottom of the issue (assuming they consider it a problem to be solved). However, this is a reminder of how the coaster manufacturing company is just the tip of the iceberg and there’s always a mountain of companies and employees underneath working to bring these massive machines to life.