Block sections on rides with no MCB's

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Jeff said:
It works fine, now. What are you talking about?

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Dragster is working better now than the first year, but I still don't think that whole mini or overlapping block idea is happening. The trains still move up one at a time - when a block is clear, the next train behind starts to move up. You're probably right that it doesn't even matter because they're waiting on the pumps to be ready anyway.

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RideMan said:
Switching to flush loading might not have a significant effect on the hourly capacity, but it would lead to an awful lot of downtime at the end of the ride between the end of the ride and unloading.

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With the way MF is set up - that it has to nearly stack the trains before they can dispatch the next one - they probably could have done two trains with flush loading and gotten almost the same capacity as they are now with three trains. From my experience, people take a lot longer getting into the train than they do to get out and the two processes happen sort of simultaneously anyway. The way they did it probably helps a bit though. The current system sucks though in the event that they have to run two trains because the load station sits idle for so long while the people in unload finish unloading. If they could switch to flush loading when running two trains, that would be sweet, but the stations aren't set up for that. Unfortunately, two train operation occurs more than you might think on MF due to mechanical problems or the trains slipping around on the drive tires after it rains - have you noticed how they slow to a crawl now before they park? I think that is to try and prevent the slipping.

It looks like Intamin has taken some steps to simplify the design in Kingda Ka. From looking at the pictures, it looks as though the curve to the station is sloped and will allow the trains to roll in with gravity. At least the drive tires they'll be using in the station will be covered and won't get so wet.
*** Edited 1/29/2005 3:18:44 PM UTC by MDOmnis***

It doesn't matter that the train pairs don't move at the same time on Dragster. As long as there's one ready to launch, it doesn't move anything along faster. Ditto for moving trains into load, since they have a ton of time to load them.

The problem is though - when they put all six on, the first train gets out to launch and actually has to wait for the last train launched to clear the first holding block on the other side. This is why you hear people saying it runs more efficiently with 5 than with 6 and it's true. While it might be the best solution as it stands, I doubt this is what they had in mind when they designed it.

Who said otherwise? See seven posts ago.

If all the trains could move together- at the same time- six could be run more reliably.

You could... but why bother? Six trains can't physically move more people than five.

I noticed that on TTD the trains can't move from the load station to the launch position until the last train clears the safty block. Why don't the trains move into the launch when the last train clears the tower? Capacity will increase if there is always a train ready to launch, as of right now after a pair of trains launch the staging area remains empty for a while.

Six trains could move more people on Dragster than five IF they could reduce the cycle time for the launch mechanism. If they could move the trains in pairs as designed and if they could get the system to reset so that it is ALWAYS ready to launch the next train when the train ahead clears the first block brake, they would see an improvement in capacity. But there is another issue.

Recall that on Millennium Force, prior to the 2004 season, they were able to move people fast enough in the stations that with three trains running, the trains almost never had to actually stop on the safety brake. They had it down to a science: when the train on the course cleared the station fly-by hill, they would dispatch the train from load up the lift hill. The train in unload would, at the same time, move down to load, thus clearing the unload station, and the returning train could move directly into unload, thus clearing the safety brake just before the train on the lift crested the lift hill. You could tell when this happened if you were on the lift...as the third train cleared the safety brake, the lift would speed up.

In 2004, changes in the hardware, personnel and procedures destroyed the timing of the load process. In 2004, it took much longer to get the train loaded than in the past, meaning that it was almost impossible to make interval. A bit of the same operational paranoia also affects Top Thrill Dragster, meaning that the trains in load are almost never ready to go in time to move down to the launch staging area. So every other train can go out as soon as the mechanism resets, which is still several seconds after the train ahead clears the first block brake.

So there are a lot of variables that keep either of those coasters from running at interval. Millennium Force could do it if You-Know-What hadn't happened to You-Know-Who on You-Know-What at You-Know-Where. Dragster could do it only if they could get the launch sled to reset faster.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I totally disagree, Dave. Six trains would never, under any circumstances, improve capacity. Unload doesn't need to have two trains to, well, unload. As load can feed two trains to the launch area on whatever interval they system can launch trains on, it doesn't ever matter if there are one or two trains in unload.

For example, on a cold start you'd have a pair of trains in launch/stand-by, a pair in load, and one in unload. The first one launches and off it goes. That train now has the time it takes for the next launch, plus the movement of the next two trains (and the loading of those trains), before it has to join the fifth train in load to be loaded again. A sixth train would not ever make a difference unless it took longer to unload than it did to load.