Six Flags Great America

Stacking is when you are sitting on the brake run just outside of the station for an unnecessary amount of time while the train in the station is being prepped for release i.e. Batman Knight Flight at SFO.

Thanks for the help I just always saw the word but never new what it meant. I now know that stacking is BAD!
THANKS!

Wow, as Legendary has already said numerous times in this thread, thank you all for the kind words! We really did try our best to keep the lines moving and give everyone a good time all year long, and I guess we succeeded! :)

Hopefully we'll see some of you next year....

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Clayton Hauck - launching you away at SFGAm in two thousand and fun!

CoastingClay,

I hope so, I'm going to SFGam for the first time next season

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Randy Hutchinson
You build it, I'll ride it...eventually

As others have said, stacking is no good. When working Bull, it is possible, with a good crew, to have ZERO trains stack, meaning there would be one in the station, one on lift, and one on the ride's course. It's when you have this type of flow over and over where the line moves extremely well. When the trains don't stop at all before coming into the station, it's a thing of beauty. ;)

What other coasters can have this on a continuous basis? I know CP's B&M's stack one train consistantly on the transfers. Does Apollo's Chariot run without any stacking? When I was there, they were only running two trains, so I can't comment really. I'm looking for three-train B&M's. Medusa SFGAd could be one. Anyone care to comment?

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SixFlags purchases Australia!

No... Raptor doesn't stack if they have an experienced crew (beginning and end of the year are "iffy" due to short-term contracts). Talk about beauty, seeing the trains roll right through the transfer into the station. Mantis stacks, but that's a stand-up phenomenon.

Alpengeist and Apollo stack when the crew isn't on the ball (a frequent problem on Alpie when I was there).

Batman and SFO, now there's stacking that would make Walter and Claude cringe! It has almost the same interval as Raptor, but they can't handle two, let alone three trains.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

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Jeff said:
"No... Raptor doesn't stack if they have an experienced crew (beginning and end of the year are "iffy" due to short-term contracts). Talk about beauty, seeing the trains roll right through the transfer into the station. Mantis stacks, but that's a stand-up phenomenon."

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Disagree. I went to CP at least once every month in 2000, and the standard at Raptor was consistently stacking one train on the transfers for usually about 10 seconds. Now, that's still GREAT, but it never really "coasted through the transfers" in my many, many visits this year. From what I gathered from Raptor ops, interval is top of the vertical loop. I rarely ever witnessed them hitting that interval on my visits.

And yes, if Mantis didn't stack, I'd be pretty scared, as the world would be coming to an end. :)
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SixFlags purchases Australia!

They 3 times I went, Raptor only stacked when the crew was pumping up the riders.

Do you feel sometimes that a park would want to stack coasters so that customers would have to wait in line longer?

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The Raging Bull #1!!

No, the less you stack the more people get on, through, and out the ride, which make the lines shorter.
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"4 Seats are better than 2"

The longer you're standing in line the less time you have to spend money on food and souvenirs.

Are you listening, SFO?

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

i dont knoe if anyone else noticed but shockwave always has had a great crew. it has gone down hill since its popularity has gone down but they could have ran 4 trains without stacking they were so fast on that ride.

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bhilk

Does anyone actually REMEMBER Shockwave running four trains at once? I was only seven, so I don't remember. I believe it was only for a few months during the first season.

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If you are looking for trouble, you found it. -- Steven Hawking

They ran four trains on Shockwave. How long ago was this?

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2 for 1 in 2001:SFGAm all the way!!
2002:CPs year 2 rule!

I allways wondered why there are so many storage tracks. There are four, but I do not remember Shockwave running with four trains. The last few times I was @ GA, they only ran two, and I walked on all the time...
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"4 Seats are better than 2"

I can say I have never been there when they were running 4 trains, I have seen 3 but not 4. I think if Shockwave was going to run four they would always have to stack one though, because how the zones are set up. I might just have to get trained on Shockwave to see how the zones are set up. Then again it might get boring over there and there would be a lot more "guest illness" to clean up!!

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American Eagle 20th Anniversary Ride Operator

To the best of my knowledge, SFGAM does not nor never has owned four Shockwave trains. They only have the red, blue, and yellow trains. So unless they stole the black train from Demon, it is unlikely that they ever ran four trains.
jeremy

I think they only ran 4 trains the first season, maybe the second season. The original colors were 2 yellow trains and 2 blue trains. When they switched to 3 train operation they painted one of the yellow trains red. If you have ever been on the ride you used to be able to see the yellow paint underneath the red if someone had scratched something into the car. I think they decided to only run 3 because the brake run wasn't long enough.

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BMCOASTER

bmcoaster@wi.rr.com

I'm positive they ran four at least PART of the first season...having maintenance people tell me that and the fact that the coaster has four storage (transfer) tracks are pretty good indications, wouldn't you say, 2Hostyl? ;)

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If you are looking for trouble, you found it. -- Steven Hawking

Yes I know that there are four transfer tracks. I remark to myself about that everytime I'm there. Granted, I never went in the premier season, but this is the first that I have ever heard of anyone actually seeing four trains. In anycase, if what you all are saying is true, where is the fourth (apparently blue) train? I would assume they would keep it for parts at least.