Boomerang lift mechanism

I know on Vekoma Boomerangs there are two lifts. I also know that the second lift is a chain, but what exactly is the first lift mechanism? I haven't gotten a close enough look to see for myself, and was curious to see if any of you could help out. Thanks! :-)

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Planned parks: Astroland, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, SFNE, SFGadv,SFGam,CP,PKI,PKD,PCW,HW,Indiana Beach,SFWOA,SFKK,SFDL,SFSTL,Lakemont,DelGrosso's... Need I say more?

Its a cable mechanism (sp?) But I dont know how it fully works either ;)

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Also, if you sit in the front seat, I've noticed the SFNE boomerang (Flashback) has a winch at the top of the second hill. Is this in case it valleys?

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Planned parks: Astroland, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, SFNE, SFGadv,SFGam,CP,PKI,PKD,PCW,HW,Indiana Beach,SFWOA,SFKK,SFDL,SFSTL,Lakemont,DelGrosso's... Need I say more?

It's some kind of 'claw' that graspes a horizontal beam on the back of the last car. When pulled to the top of the first hill, the claw rolls over a fixed piece of steel on the track that pushes the claw in an open position, releasing the train. (My English isn't good enough to describe it properly, so i hope you can visualize what i mean)

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Helios has got it...

There is a loop on the back of the train. At the base of the first lift there is an assembly that looks like a train axle, with a big hook attached to it. A wire rope is attached to this axle and connected to a hydraulic winch. The hook is designed so that merely pushing it into the back of the train will cause it to engage with the loop on the train.

The station brakes are opened, and the hydraulic winch begins pulling the lifting car (the axle with the hook attached) up the first lift. Once the train clears the station, the station brakes are closed. The train is hoisted to the top of the lift. As soon as the train is high enough to clear the Boomerang, the station brakes are opened. A little higher on the lift, a fixed tripper pushes a mechanism that opens the hook on the catch car, releasing the train to roll down the hill and through the station.

The second lift is a more-or-less conventional chain lift assembly, except that the whole assembly is mounted on a pneumatic cylinder which holds it up against the bottom of the train. The train catches on this lift with a conventional chain dog, and the brakes at the base of the vertical loop slam closed. Once the train is high enough on Lift #2 to clear the Boomerang, the brakes are opened. When the train reaches the top, the pneumatic cylinders are dumped and the chain lift drops, moving perpendicular to the track, until the chain dog falls out of the lift chain. This allows the train to roll backwards down the second lift.

The station brakes should be closed at this point. The train zips through the three inversions, and skids to a stop in the station, but the brakes are cleverly set to allow the train to overshoot the station by a few feet. This allows the train to roll forward into the station slowly to be parked at the loading position.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.