Beast trains "collide" at 5 mph, riders sent to hospital

This year absolutely stinks!!  I am glad it was minor but it is still an accident.  Also I heard of Deja Vu at SFGAm having big problems today.  I feel that PKI might be doing something to there breaks though.
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KBF Net...The Next Generation In KBF Sites...http://kbfnet.thrillzing.net...It's Alive...Nov. 20...

Yeah. This sucks! However, 2001 has been quite a year, producing quality B&M, Intamin, CCI, etc. rides.

I hope 2002 will be a much better year.

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The Jet Coaster ROARS!
Will Johansson
http://xpp.coasterbuzz.com

I am glad everyone is OK. The situation could have been a lot worse.......it was a horrible day weatherwise, except for mid-afternoon. We were fortunate to get on everything else, and the wind didn't stop us from wreaking havoc on the Flyers! :)
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Moxie: Not quite Cola, not quite Root Beer, not quite Asphalt!
www.angelfire.com/oh4/tk173

After PPP, at least I now KNOW how to fly those Flyers!  Bad news though, Siebert is a really nice guy and will probably get to tell media about it over and over...
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Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

Now you know why Wild One @ SFA never ran 2 trains back in the old Adventure World days.Thank god SFA switched from skid brakes to fin brakes in 99.I'm surprised that PKI still uses skid brakes on the Beast.

*shakes head* Another one? *sighs* I hope that's it for the rest of the year.

The wildact at cp stops worse then that though doesn't seem like 5 mph would be all that bad unless people were exiting or entering the train in front.

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Converting The Beast from skid brakes to fin brakes would be an incredibly major undertaking, probably requiring a complete re-tracking. See, much of The Beast features long gauging bolts which are attached from one rail to the other across the center of the track in the high-stress areas. Gauging bolts as used on The Beast are by their very nature incompatible with fin brakes because the gauge bolts are high enough in the track profile that the brake fins would catch on the bolts. The solution is that the gauging bolts have to be replaced with steel gauging ties, which wrap around the underside of the track and attach to either rail. But doing that to 7,400 feet of The Beast would be a massive undertaking.
Furthermore, brake fins add significant weight to the trains, which could cause other problems with the operation of the ride, and finally...well, The Beast has so many trim brakes on it now that converting all those trims to caliper brakes would make for a terrible ride.....!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yikes!

I hope the riders do not get blamed for this one too!

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http://members.aol.com/rides911/accidents.htm
http://www.saferparks.org

This amazes me on how much rain can cause brakes to fail. Was it raining hard that day or steady rain. Should they run coasters in heavy rains for saftey reasons? Lets hope 2002 will be good year with no accidents.

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17 Parks In the 2001 Season! 105 Coasters in Track Record.

did the trains blow up in flames like in RCT?

To address some issues brought up on the discussion forum...
Yes, I was at Kings Island today, but by the time I got there, the incident had already happened and been largely cleaned up. From Vortex I could see that one train was in the brake run just uptrack of the station, and another train was on the second lift. I couldn't see whether the third train was in the station or in the storage shed or elsewhere. The park sealed off the plaza across from the ride queue, which is interesting because there is nothing to see from there, and by closing off the plaza they might as well have put up a billboard reading, "SOMETHING WENT WRONG HERE TODAY."
Anyway, the way The Beast is blocked, the only place where a collision could have happened because of a braking problem is in the station...and that might explain the number of potential injuries given the low speed: the train would arrive on the back brake as the train in the station is loading or unloading, which means passengers in the train that got hit were probably standing up, possibly even partially in or out of the train, rather than seated where the headrests might do some good.

Remember, at the moment this is all speculation on my part; even though I was there, I didn't see any details of the incident, as the incident was over by the time I got back to that part of the park.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Well, this is a bummer, that's for sure.  I'm glad it wasn't worse though!  It also demonstrates why I personally don't dig the concept of skid brakes.  But like Ride Man also stated, it'd take alot more than just slapping some brakes on the track to convert Beast from skid brakes to fin friction brakes.

JD
http://www.westcoaster.net

Wackokid: No, there was no smoke! :)
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Moxie: Not quite Cola, not quite Root Beer, not quite Asphalt!
www.angelfire.com/oh4/tk173

Geez, I wonder if you guy's will blame this on the patron as well, and if you guy's do I wouldn't be the least bit suprised. BB: that was a great statement..... :)

As I've previously stated, rider behaviour is only responsible for 1/4 to 1/3 of coaster fatalaties and probably a similar percentage of injuries. Otherwise a few notes:

Number of Injuries:  Coasters are not designed with energy absorbing structures like cars.  Unlike automobiles, coasters are designed not to collide rather than to absorb the energy of the collision.  There are some good engineering reasons for this.  This means that there may be a large number of injuries in a relatively low speed collision.  Also, injuries here are being measured by the number of people sent to the emergency room.  This is really measuring not only the number of injuries, but also the caution of the park and the riders in getting a check to make sure that they are OK.

Severity of Injuries:  All of those who went to the emergency room were released with "bumps and bruises".  This seems to indicate that the injuries were minor.

Cobra29with99 said.....

Actually, from what I have heard , all three trains were in the brake area. The third train to enter hit the second train injuring the guests on the two trains. The first train was not involved.

I thought all 3 could not be on the brake run and that it would setup on the 2nd hill if 2 were still in the station/brake area?

I sat on top of the 2nd hill for about 5 minutes one time. :)

Cobra29with99 (love the name, BTW...) if what you say is correct:

"...all three trains were in the brake area. The third train to enter hit the second train injuring the guests on the two trains. The first train was not involved."

...then something went terribly wrong, or it was clearly a case of either operator error or equipment failure. Let me identify the potential blocking points on The Beast as follows (remember I don't have "inside info" about the ride, so my identifiers may bear no relation to the way the park does it...):

A: Boarding platform brake
B: Transfer switch brake
C: Lift #1
D: Mid-course block brake
E: Lift #2
F: Station Approach trim
G: Station approach brake
H: Station entrance brake

Normally, the train stops at (A), will stop at (C) until (E) is clear, will stop at (E) until (G) is clear, and will wait at (G) until (A) is clear. What Cobra29With99 is telling us is that trains were sitting at (A) and (G) when the third train, clearly in violation of the park's blocking rules, cleared (E) and slid through (F), colliding with the train at (G), since (F) is used only as a trim brake. If this is true, then something went seriously wrong when the train cleared (E). Which would indicate first that the incident had nothing to do with the wet weather, and second that the train that did the hitting was probably moving a bit faster than the reported 5 mph.

Let me emphasize again that this should all be considered speculation at this time unless collaborated by someone who saw the incident. The only thing I know for certain is that for most of the day, trains were parked at (E) and (G); I was not able to see whether there was anything at (A).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

They were getting ready to close the ride sent the first train empty the second train slid to far in the brakes not causing the third train to set up therfore the third train came into the brakes slid to far also hitting the second train.