Accident on Magnum

I guess I dont see this as a "crash".

They were hardly even moving.

Even people that were on the ride said you could barely feel anything.

Bumper cars cause more damage.

Especially good bumper cars. ;) *** Edited 5/27/2007 11:01:23 PM UTC by Acoustic Viscosity***

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Touchdown said:

3. Later in the day when it rained, everything stopped due to lightning (as it should) however when that passed it was still drizzling and while MF, TTD, Maverick, and Mean Streak got going again the Mine Ride and Gemini did not, and only restarted again when the rain ceased. Also, when I rode Gemini the trims were turned on extremely hard.

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Also, Dorney Park kept Thunderhawk and Steel Force(in addition to Laser and Wild Mouse which have always closed for rain) closed Saturday night for rain as well, which was never the case in the past.....really hope this doesn't mean MOST coasters at CF parks will now close in any rain....or at least hope it blows over and doesn't stay in effect for long.

I don't want to worry about being screwed if there's a drop of rain in the forecast when I plan a trip to any CF parks.

^Thunderhawk being closed should be unrelated, since Mean Streak opened. Also Steel Force was built by a different company, but with the ride being pretty similar I can see why they are being cautious.

My guess is that CF will remain cautious about those rides until the cause of the crash is determined and fixed, in the mean time riding in the rain is not the best thing in the world and most of the time it blows over, and if you are planing to go on a day where there will be continuous rain all day then you should know what you are risking.

Okay Kevin, tell me why I was told exactly what I stated during my training? Was it an out-of-control rumor that found it's way into training? If so, shouldn't YOU control such rumors on your ride? Is it all a pretend reason to get your ride ops to go as fast as they can go, practically at an unsafe speed (imho)?

How many seconds to load then? What happens during a set up? Does anyone come to reset the lift after a set up (like I was told)? I didn't keep the manual...lol.

I am at least partially correct.

Why don't you give us some info...

I was at the park on Opening Sunday and got to see the ride set up numerous times. The actual interval is about 75 seconds between dispatches, and when the train that just left crests the second hill, it's time for the train in the station to go. While there are problems with people being slow getting loaded into the ride, there were also some other ususual sources of delay on opening weekend that basically boil down to signalling problems on the platform (crew having to wait through three requests before the lap bars get locked, for instance).

Anyway, when the train is late going out, the third train comes back and stops on the safety brake outside the last tunnel where it waits for the train sitting on the transfer table to go into the station. What was odd was that I was on a train that was very late to leave, and we cruised up the lift, but the two trains behind us got stopped, one on the transfer table and one on the safety brake. We finally stopped just short of the crest of the lift hill. I believe two crew members go running from the platform to restart the ride: one to the base of the lift hill, one to the transfer table.

I think Cedar Point intentionally designs their rides this way. When they put the all-new control system on Mine Ride a few years ago, I happened to visit on one of the first times they tried to use three trains and every time they set up the ride, an operator had to go flying down the ramp, down the midway, across the lagoon bridge, and under the second lift hill to restart the ride. That long run is certainly an incentive to NOT set up the ride!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'd rather have to run across the midway to restart something than take that long, long haul to the top of Dragster during tophat-stickage. ;)

It's a shame this happened, but I'm very glad to see that no one got terribly hurt. It does seem to me that the media sensationalized it a bit. Hell I've been on Magnum when people got hurt (myself included) and the CP staff always does a phenominal job of taking care of the problem. Their medical team on site is very courteous and if nothing else, genuinely pushes you to go to the hospital on their dollar.

Hopefully when I go later in the season for our annual trip, things will be settled down. And what's the big deal about the trains? I've seen a few complaints about the trains on this thread. I ~like~ the trains on Maggie!

Then again I'm a glutton for punishment so...;)

Why don't they just remove the third train in the rain?

It only takes a minute, and a train certainly won't slide through both the tunnel and transfer brakes. Two trains in the rain is perfectly safe.

Actually, Corey, I think that as of last year you can open the safeties from the controls now, or maybe the computer will even do it for you so that you don't get an old-school setup.

Agreed that this didn't sound particularly newsworthy, aside from the fact a couple of trains got dinged up. I wonder if they've ever run the reprogrammed ride, with the safeties computer controlled, in that kind of rain. It sure sounds to me like it just barely got through wet brakes with a fully loaded train. Under the old system, it was so important not to set up that it would've rarely happened, let alone in those weather conditions. I think mag brakes up there on approach, combined with the safeties, would be a good idea. kpjb's suggestion to simply take off a train in really wet weather makes sense too.

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Ajrides said:
It also happened on SROS at SFNE a few years ago and the braking system failed and Intemin was found at fault. I think there will be lots of law suits coming CPs way.

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True but wasn't SFNE's 2001 crash due to a faulty pnuematic line in the brake system? A couple years back the same thing happened on SFA's superman as well,fortunately there was no collision but both trains did end up on the lift at the same time...I was in the park the night that it happened.

As far as I know, the safeties can not be released from the control booth even to this day. Releasing the safeties requires a simultaneous lift up on a button in controls and the turning of a key out under the lift. One thing that I think has changed is that they don't have to wait for a supervisor to call back before starting up again, they can just start up again on their own. So that means it's about 30 seconds of downtime instead of a few minutes.

And Dexter... Some people just aren't suited to work Magnum. Sounds like you were one of them. There were people like that when I was there too and they went on and did fine at other rides and didn't hold any grudges like you seem to be. It doesn't mean you are a bad person. It just means you don't belong on the crew of the greatest ride in the world. Last year's crew was doing nothing unsafe that I saw and just about every time I was there, Kevin was out on the platform doing the job (busting his butt) the same way he was asking everyone else to. You can work quickly AND safely and quite frankly, it's not that hard to avoid setting up and it's not even that hard to hit interval >90% of the time.

No grudge here. Sorry if it sounded so. Now it's time to save face...

I was only at magnum for less than a week, so maybe my numbers are a little messed up. Maybe dispatch time was reduced 19 seconds less than it was before. I don't really remember now that I have been told that I am wrong...

As for being unsafe, it would be way too much to get into, but in short it has to do with paperwork, and forcing ride ops to fraudulently
"sign off" that they understand things that were not explained to them, so they can get to work. Some rides spent 10 minutes training me and told me that I MUST initial beside statements that I didn't understand and falsely claim that I did understand them.

I was at Magnum for such a short amount of time because I got a promotion, not because "I wasn't suited for Magnum".

"Greatest ride in the world" is subjective, by the way. My ride was far more difficult to operate than a roller coaster. Training on my ride took way more than an hour or two, it took weeks. My ride took mad skills to run. Each one of my guests were treated to something very special. Only a very select few were "suited" to be able to work on my ride. Can you guess which ride I worked?

I've worked at least a dozen of the rides at the park within my three seasons there because they needed me to fill in, and my name is even displayed on a plaque as one of the best employees of 2000 in Park Ops.

Yes Kevin busted his butt and did a fine job. Last year's Magnum crew did a good job. I'm sorry for getting so defensive. My grudge is not with Kevin, or with being a robot on a coaster platform. It is with the way the park treats their employees, especially the way my crew was treated last year...but I don't need to get into that here.

All of this is so off topic that I need to stop now.

Sorry. :)

I also agree the park could treat its employees better - mainly when it comes to things like consistent discipline, etc. I guess I misunderstood where you were coming from. Sorry if I got defensive about my ride as well. My name is on the wall in park op too. I take a lot of pride in that I took a lot of pride in the way things were run at Magnum the years I was there and even some of the years I haven't been. Of course greatest ride is an opinion. But I think it's an opinion that everyone who is working on the ride should share. If you go to another ride, you should take pride in that ride too.

Dexter, did you work as a train engineer? Either that or a Paddlewheel captain?

Space Spiral?

I was in line for maverick the moment that this happened. Strange thing is, I didn't even hear anything about it until sunday morning.

Magnum is back running but like it was said before, down to one train operation.

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Kenmei said:I ~like~ the trains on Maggie!Then again I'm a glutton for punishment so...

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I guess I don't really need to *add* anything, other that to say that I am not a glutton for punishment. The last time I rode Maggie was a couple years ago, but as of then, they were hard on the butt and on the back.

Maggie is still a really solid ride, but with that layout, some *good* trains would propel the ride back to the status of "best in the park". Look to Kennywood for hints and suggestions on what can be done to *fix* an Arrow train... ;)

I wonder if the story would have gotten so much news if the, though small, media crowd was not already there for Maverick's opening.

Secondly, whoever said there will be some lawsuits coming for CP ...wow....

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jar said:
Secondly, whoever said there will be some lawsuits coming for CP ...wow....

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Was that a question or a statement?

I don't see how anyone can sue at this point. Unless they had 'emotional damages'. Of the 3 rides that were injured, 2 mearly went to first aid before returning to the park. And, the third was treated for an athsma attack and is fine.

In regards to Magnum's trains. I never found them uncomfortable, just hard to get in and out of. I belive that a new trains could not only make the ride more popular, I also belive it would increase the efficiency of dispatch. Although, call me cheesey, but I really like the look of the trains and would be leary of losing the 'cool' factor.