Cyclone SFNE

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kpjb: I wasn't aware of the change to T-Bolt's first drop to make way for the new Phantom, but I guess that would explain the bounce (which has subsequently been fixed) that appeared on the bottom of that drop about the time Phantom's Revenge opened... :)

(a little track and structure movement is normal, and is a good thing, but it isn't supposed to bounce!)

bunky666: Hercules' layout was never changed, but that big drop off the lift hill was changed a few times. Shortly after it opened, the curve at the bottom was rebuilt, and in fact there are some photos around (some were published in Rollercoaster!) that show Hercules with an extra rail on the banked curve. Later, when Cedar Fair took over, one of the first things they did with Hercules (besides adding a computer and a second train, and getting rid of the trailers) was to completely tear down and rebuild the drop off of the lift hill. Those photos were in ACE News at the time.

OrientExpressKid and AcousticVelocity: The latest photos I have of the track under the Colossus brake run are from January of 2007.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Acoustic Viscosity's avatar
Ok, I thought I saw three rails in some photos of the lake turn. I never understood what I was seeing in those pics.

AV Matt
Long live the Big Bad Wolf

Hercules also had modification to the drop under the station. I rode it before and after. Before was better.

I was told by a ride op at Kennywood that the first drop on Tbolt is exactly the same, but there is a (noticable) change to the station and the approach to the first drop is slightly longer. I liked it better when the nose of the first car seemed to hang over the edge while you were sitting in the station.

You can see the pics and articles of the Cyclone from Roller Coaster magazine.

http://sfneonline.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=239

Acoustic Viscosity's avatar
I believe the hill leading to the station drop on Hercules was lowered after trims were added to the first drop which slowed the train down enough it couldn't make it up to the top of that hill. And even before the ride originally opened, that hill was lowered a bit to ensure the train would make it back from the lake turn, if I recall correctly from an article in the fall '89 issue of RollerCoaster, the one with Hercules on the cover.

AV Matt
Long live the Big Bad Wolf

SVLFever said:
I think there was an article in Rollercoaster magazine about the Cyclone. If I remember right, they made the change because the coaster would valley occasionally (which was caused by changing to lighter trains).

Can someone verify?

I havn't had a chance to check out the article yet. But the drop was changed after the return of the heavier PTC trains because they were putting too much stress on the track and stucture.

Riverside had an issue with the lighter Morgans valleying sometimes and had a policy that they couldn't send out a train without a minimum of like 10 people on board. On a slow day this could take like 10 - 15 minutes of sitting around. We always suspected the ops were being lazy but but the anti-rollbacks on the crest of the second hill kinda confirm this.

Edit: Just read the article and it says they needed full trains for dispatch with the Morgans. I remember this differently but possibly someone can confirm one way or the other that remembers. *** Edited 7/28/2008 2:37:22 AM UTC by Cropsey***

Acoustic Viscosity said:
Ok, I thought I saw three rails in some photos of the lake turn. I never understood what I was seeing in those pics.

Yeah, they're floating around somewhere, although most might be in printed publications. I remember seeing a photo and thinking it looked like a giant Lionel train layout with the third rail in the middle.

Great pictures Ajrides, looks like they've painted the track.
-Congo Falls - 90 rides (one day) -Murder of the Orient Express (1980-2003)

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