Thrust Air 2000 problems
I was looking at the pictures and also on the roller coaster tycoon game. If there is only 1 train won't that be a problem with capacity? Or will there be more than one and it will operate like Demon Drop with 1 train on the circuit at one time. Also with the tires, any chance of a flat, or are they solid rubber. We all heard about Millennium Force's wheels melting (I think) Any chance of it happening to TA2K
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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point
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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point
First of all, with regard to flat tires...The S&S prototype has fixed plates covered with an anti-friction material onto which the car will settle if a tire blows. So if a tire goes, things go wrong...but the failure is not catastrophic.
Second, The Rule still applies regardless of the type of ride. What is The Rule? The Rule is: Thou shalt not allow more than one train to occupy any block, at any time, for any reason, lest thy trains collide resulting in much wailing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention injuries and property damage.
I don't have Hypersonic details in front of me right now, but consider this: There is a station, there is a launch track, there is some kind of bridge at the top of the tower, which, if it is longer than on the prototype, might be a good place for a block brake, allowing the next train to launch as soon as the first clears the top of the tower. Additional brake locations between there and the loading area allow for more cars. If there are five places to reliably stop a car, then four trains can safely operate. It's not real complicated; the challenge in designing a block system is in dividing the track up in such a way that the blocks are at an appropriate distance from one another to keep the ride from setting up.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
A description of how coaster blocking systems work will be appearing on my web page Real Soon Now.
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 10/10/2000. ***
Second, The Rule still applies regardless of the type of ride. What is The Rule? The Rule is: Thou shalt not allow more than one train to occupy any block, at any time, for any reason, lest thy trains collide resulting in much wailing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention injuries and property damage.
I don't have Hypersonic details in front of me right now, but consider this: There is a station, there is a launch track, there is some kind of bridge at the top of the tower, which, if it is longer than on the prototype, might be a good place for a block brake, allowing the next train to launch as soon as the first clears the top of the tower. Additional brake locations between there and the loading area allow for more cars. If there are five places to reliably stop a car, then four trains can safely operate. It's not real complicated; the challenge in designing a block system is in dividing the track up in such a way that the blocks are at an appropriate distance from one another to keep the ride from setting up.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
A description of how coaster blocking systems work will be appearing on my web page Real Soon Now.
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 10/10/2000. ***
I have heard that with Millennium Force, a train can go up the hill, but it will go slower, but as soon as the train that was on the course hits the brakes the train on the hill will speed up. I have been on it and it has done that twice, real funny to see people's faces when the train speeds up the lift
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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point
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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point
Yup, MF has 4 blocks -- station, lift, course, unload station. This allows them to safely run 3 trains.
As RideMan said, you can never allow two trains to EVER occupy the same block. This means you need (at least) one more block than train, so that you always have an open block to advance a train TO.
For example, with a train on the MF course, you can send another up the hill, then advance the one in the unload station to the load station before the one on the course makes it back. You can't allow the one on the hill to go OVER the hill until the on-course one is back in the unload station. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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--Greg
http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/
As RideMan said, you can never allow two trains to EVER occupy the same block. This means you need (at least) one more block than train, so that you always have an open block to advance a train TO.
For example, with a train on the MF course, you can send another up the hill, then advance the one in the unload station to the load station before the one on the course makes it back. You can't allow the one on the hill to go OVER the hill until the on-course one is back in the unload station. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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--Greg
http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/
Exactly right, Greg...the point is that on Millennium Force a train can be sent up the hill as soon as the catchwagon returns to the station...but it can't go over the top until the train on the course gets past the safety brake immediately uptrack of the unload station...that is, as Greg said, in the unload station.
In practice, Cedar Point doesn't dispatch Millennium Force until the train on the course reaches the straightaway just before the final overbanked turn. It just so happens that the time required for the train to get from that point to the unload station is slightly less than the time required to get from the station to the top of the lift.
Also, the blocking on Millennium Force is a little strange because the stations are actually divided up into many very short blocks so that the trains can advance very close together, so that ride isn't the best one to use to demonstrate blocking theory.
You can see another example of this sort of delay over on Magnum XL-200. When the train clears the top of the lift, the Dispatch Ready indicator (I may have the label wrong) lights on the control panel...but the operator doesn't pound on the window* until he sees the train crest the second hill.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
For the non-CP folks...
*...to signal the platform crew that it's time for the train in the station to leave
--DCAjr
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 10/10/2000. ***
In practice, Cedar Point doesn't dispatch Millennium Force until the train on the course reaches the straightaway just before the final overbanked turn. It just so happens that the time required for the train to get from that point to the unload station is slightly less than the time required to get from the station to the top of the lift.
Also, the blocking on Millennium Force is a little strange because the stations are actually divided up into many very short blocks so that the trains can advance very close together, so that ride isn't the best one to use to demonstrate blocking theory.
You can see another example of this sort of delay over on Magnum XL-200. When the train clears the top of the lift, the Dispatch Ready indicator (I may have the label wrong) lights on the control panel...but the operator doesn't pound on the window* until he sees the train crest the second hill.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
For the non-CP folks...
*...to signal the platform crew that it's time for the train in the station to leave
--DCAjr
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 10/10/2000. ***
Yeah, well, that's what happens when you take a coaster with a 2:42 ride time and make it crawl into the station so slowly that it adds 17 seconds to the ride time and thus knocks so much off the allowable dwell time in the station that it becomes really tough to get the train loaded...They have got to bring that thing into the station a whole lot faster.
That, or bring back the block-brake just uptrack of the helix.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
That, or bring back the block-brake just uptrack of the helix.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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