Cyclone continues to grow at Dreamworld

Boy is that sexy!

Nice colors! I'm glad to see us coming out of the green and purple fad.

It's good to see some Arrow track going up again.

Latest news from the park is about the colour of the train....but I have promissed the park that I would wait until the weekend update pictures before I let the cat out of the bag.  The ride will be keeping the old cariages, just giving them a overhall with some new wheels and stuff.
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"Thunder from Down Under"
The Croc Man Rules!!!

I would have figured the old tubs and running gear would have remained.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, the trains used on Big Dipper/Cyclone are of the same design as the Drachan Fire and Canyon Blaster trains.

There are two trains, right? The Worlds Greatest Coaster Thrills DVD didn't go into THAT much detail of the ride.

Nup, just one 6 car train! I've emailed Dreamworld recommending that they add another car to the one they have & purchase another 7 car train if they want to cut the estimated waiting time of 3-4 hours upon opening in half.

Cyclone looks awesome, much better than in its old location which cramped it up. I would've preferred that they painted the track another colour as the old yellow track/white support scheme became boring. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers & the park saved money this way (by sticking with yellow paint.) I'm also very pleased it's staying in Aussie & not vanishing overseas.

I was suprised that my home park, Wonderland Sydney, didn't buy it & figured they'd rather spend the money on a newer ride. Word is they want the Southern Hemisphere record for the tallest coaster & as the park has a good relationship with Intamin, go figure! :) I sure hope this dream will come true.

Adding a 7th car would sound like a good idea on the surface, but making the train longer would significantly change the type of ride it would give. The ride was designed to hold a six-car train, and adding the 7th car would make it run faster due to the weight and length.

There best option is to have Arrow (or Vekoma) provide a transfer track, a second six-car train, and reset the brakes (at the end of the ride to make sure the train doesn't over shoot the station)

Hmm, the more I think about it, the Big Dipper/Cyclone was designed for a 6 car train. I just thought that since the standard is 7 cars a train, maybe it was too expensive for the park. Nah, most probably the land constrictions didn't allow for a layout that handles the heavier train. Man, am I reaching, just wished I knew the real reason behind this.

Yeah, there is no transfer track. Perhaps another reason for 6 cars is the final braking run & station platform are too short to allow the extra car. See for yourself in this photo I took. The final brakes are in the tunnel before the station & the preliminary brakes are before the turn into the tunnel next to the trees in the upper middle of the photo. Inbetween those brakes, the train is travelling at about 10mph or more & you get slammed to the left - the most lateral Gs in the whole ride! :)

By the looks of that tunnel, I am almost certain that that straightaway would not hold a 7 car train. However, if you remove that tunnel, you can fit a transfer track to the right of it with no problem.

If that train hits the curve at 10 - 15 mph, like you said, Taipan, the brake before the station should be enough to aviod an overshoot.

Hey, how many trains does Thunderbolt have? Do you have a picture I can see? Im curious to see how similiar to Arrow it is, since Meshio track ties look pretty close to Arrows style

john,

Thunderbolt at this time is running only one train, but when it first opened it was running two trains.  Give me two weeks and I will show you some pics of the second train which has sat at the station transfere track for some years now.  I have been told by the park that they alternate the trains week in and week out as to prolong the life.  The trains could do with loosing the shoulder restraints in my opion as they make for a rough ride after the loops.

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"Thunder from Down Under"
The Croc Man Rules!!!

Actually, Big Dipper looks better in its old location, where there trees, a building, and the helix over the water was a beautiful setting. It gave the ride a more fit in and settle look, also adds to thrill.  Never the less, its original location is better than being built on a plot of dirt.  I hope Dreamworld adds trees and some theming to it or the ride will just look thrown out there. *** This post was edited by Acrophobia on 11/1/2001. ***

I just noticed something strange, both loops are athe very end of the ride!