Colossus at Magic Mountain

Does anybody know why they never run both trains on Colossus next to eachother?  Isn't that the whole point of a double track like that?

All I know is most of the time when I go to SFMM there's always one train "stuck" on the lift hill. I have seen both trains running but never racing.

-------------
We're not White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. We're American!

That damn park has let that ride slip through the cracks using an old cliche.  Since the double dip outtage and the new trains, and the fact that even on the busiest days its not raced, that ride has gone downhill.  no pun intended.

howcome they always have psyclone's trains on the other track? did they lose the original ones?

It's just poor operations and lack of concern of Six Flags to provide the customer a better experience as well as lack of concern by the operators in performing a good job.  They do the same thing on American Eagle, as well as Paramount at Kings Island on Racer.  These coasters are capacity eaters, and when both sides are running, the wait is next to nothing.  Holding a train for a moment to race against the other one is NOT a capacity issue.  The ride ops lack of concern is evident when they release trains within seconds of each other instead of syncronizing them to race.  Sorry, but thats just lazy. 

Hershey manages to race their Lightning Racer every time, finishing within seconds of each other at the finish line.  This coaster was designed with the ingenious idea to have ONE operator relase both sides, in sync.

But then again, Hershey makes an effort to provide a premium experience in all areas, while Six Flags and Paramount is only concerned about taking your money.

I agree with Super7- Six Flags parks suck because of rides always breaking down and litter everywhere. I experienced this at SFOG

Ok I have a few comments.
First, the reason why Psyclone's trains are put on Colossus is for backwards operation done during the month of October for Fright Fest. They used to do it for Spring Break but they stopped. With two trains on Colossus, that leaves just one on Psyclone for a line longer than it really should be.
Next, the ride is supposed to race, but the design of the station kinda hinders it. There are two separate control panels facing opposite of each other in the rear of the station. Lightning racer has just one op in the front of the station, facing both trains... In addition to the controls ops being back to back the queue at the loading platform has fence line railings that are hard to see over for the op working point. The worker working point should wait for the signal from the opposite train, often hard to see. Due to the fact the queue is in the middle of the two trains, it slows down dispatch time when if a short op working point has to look over 4 "rows" of queue to see the other op.
Despite the foresight, it would be worth it to at least try to race the ride. I mean it may detract from capacity, but it adds to the ride experience. The times I've been on it, the only times trains race are if it happens on "accident".
-----------------
"ok everyone go ahead and pull down on your shoulder restraint so you feel nice and stuck!"

*** This post was edited by baddboy on 10/25/2001. ***

So why is there no problem with racing trains on Cedar Point's Gemini? It has two control consoles at the downtrack end of the station on opposite outboard sides of the platform...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Well, the ride ops on Gemini stand up fairly high, so seeing over the queues isn’t a problem. Are the control panels at ground level on Colossus? Or it could just be that SF simply doesn’t care whether their coasters race or not… (do they even bill them as "racing" coasters anymore???)

Well, when I went on Sunday, the trains raced enough times to make me think that the ride ops knew how to space the trains so they'd race. In fact, on one of my trips, we waited in the station for a bit after the restraints were checked. Next think we knew, we were racing the other train.
-----------------
Yeeee Haaawwww!

Rideman,

CP operations are different from SFMM so im not going to say anything except for the fact that at Gemini the consoles are facing toward each other. While Colossus' aren't, I don't except it as an excusefor the ride as SFMM could race everyday if they wanted to. Sometimes you gotta make things work.

kip099,

Colossus' sit up considerable high over the queue as well. My point was that since the consoles are facing away from each other, sometimes it may be up to the op at point to let the "driver" (SF terms for controls op) know when they should dispatch so the trains can race.

In the end I have no solution, but for them just to try. With racing seemingly so sporatic, maybe it's not park policy to race, but to keep the lines down. In that case, the park should evaluate the lack of rider interaction. If it is park policy to race and the ops simply get lazy then maybe they need some disciplinaries.

btw...good comments you all!

-----------------
"ok everyone go ahead and pull down on your shoulder restraint so you feel nice and stuck!"

I used to go about once a  year in the 80's, and went a few times in the 90's.....and I  never experienced Colossus as a racer.  I only heard stories.   Just once would have been sufficient.  I never rode backwards, either.  Is it fun?

I'm waiting for X to start operating before I go again.  Wouldn't it be nice if Colossus was running as a backwards racer that day.

This has nothing to do with the ride ops, it has to do with management. Nobody tells them they HAVE to race. Apparently they are not instructed on how to do it. A simple hand and/or verbal signal system would do it.

Nobody mentioned the main reason why Colossus does'nt raqce anymore. Remember when the lady fell out of the ride on the second hill? If you do after the accident they inspected the ride and found out that the ride was tearing itself apart because of the racing. So thats why they stopped the raccing. As far as why Psyclones trains are used on the backwards side is because the Colossus train are not designed to go backwards. I miss the old Colossus. When I was a liitle kid I remeber being so scared while riding that ride because of all of the airtime. But now its like booooooooooring.

Colossus has been racing from time to time during fright fest. The ride would get alot more rideship than it does now. Its a walk on ride that just has no life were it is in the park. If they raced even both sides foward, it would be a favorite agian.

-------------
Not MLK's words but mine..I have a Dream! I have a DREAM! I HAVE A DREAM!I have a dream! That SFMM fans will be able to walk hand in hand with CP's!
AND no ONE cares what a coaster is and what a coaster isn't!

The ride desighn of Collosus know matter what they do, will never be racing,  the layout of the track is awkward than most racers.  They may start even at the lift but after the blocking brake, they'll [trains] will never be even.  During the month of October, Psyclone trains are put on backwards. And they [Magic Mountian] only run one train on Psyclone.