Dragster Scheduled to be up and running

Luckily when I went to CP on Memorial Day Dragster was consistently running. I have just heard that Dragster's Cable has snapped but PointBuzz has posted a topic.

PointBuzz - News

They have said that it is suppost to be up and running today but may be closed for short periods of time for adjustments.

Damn. I shoulda bet everybody two bucks when I had the chance. ;)

TCKR- Your odds would have been better than Smarty Jones yesterday... :)

Damn you Birdstone!

Go Smarty!

Ha! Probably would have made some decent scratch too . . *grumble, grumble*

Well, based on the park cams, even if TTD is going to be fixed and runnnig today, it looks like they got a nice rainshwoer which will slow things down a bit.

Well to clear thing up TTD's cable did snap on saturday. Maintence did a hell of a job working all night to fix it. How I know is me and my son were walking past the trunk/crane around midnight after a night run on Millie and they just got the new cable in. TTD was not up and running till around noon on sunday and soon broke down 15 min later to replace some kind of circuit board under the staging area. I got lucky on getting the last train before the rain.

The cable did not snap... it was replaced before it frayed enough to snap.

Let's play 20 questions!

*Isn't this a problem with Intamin's Rocket Coasters? Seems like I remember hearing about Xcelerator shredding it's cable to pieces at one time.
*Didn't Dragster shred it's cable a little last year as well?
*What size cable are they using and how does it differ from Millennium Force's cable?
*Would using a thicker cable or redesigned the tray the cable slides in prevent this from happening or is a year or so considered the normal life span of one of Intamin's cables?

Discussion now open... :)

Why is it a "problem?" I would venture to say that it's expected to wear-out and be replaced periodically, especially given the duty it has to perform. Lift chains break and get replaced all of the time. How is this any different?

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Rampage said:

*What size cable are they using and how does it differ from Millennium Force's cable?
*Would using a thicker cable or redesigned the tray the cable slides in prevent this from happening or is a year or so considered the normal life span of one of Intamin's cables?

Discussion now open...

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Millenium Force's cable is probably even smaller, but it isn't exposed to anywhere near as much force as Dragster. The cable is only steel, it can't last forever, it's going to wear out and have to get replaced. In my opinion once or twice a year isn't too bad.

This year they were atleast able to get the ride up the same day. Last year I was there the day after and the ride never even tested.

I think Cedar Point has been doing a great job with Dragster this season. So the cable frayed a little, it is expected with the amount of punishment it goes through everyday. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens again this season. It also shows the great commitment Cedar Point has for the ride when it was only down for half a day. I was at the park June 2nd, 3rd and 4th and Dragster was basically up all day and I got a total of 9 great rides from it.

Jeff, it wasn't meant as a bad problem. Considering no one else uses a cable to launch a train (aside from the few Schwarzkopf's left) I see this as being the only setback for a rocket coaster that no other launched coaster has to deal with. As far as lift chains breaking, etc... if it breaks more than a couple of times in a year it can become a pain in the arse. Not saying that Dragster's cable has broken twice or anything, but the possibility of it happening more than once can't be forgotten considering, as Memory says, the amount of stress that the cable goes through on a daily basis.

-Editted for the select few on CBuzz.

*** Edited 6/7/2004 7:27:56 PM UTC by Rampage***

Coasters have been launched using cables for a long, long time.

-Nate

Oh please Nate! Don't you know everything begins and ends with Cedar Point?? Jeez!

;)

Aside from Schwarzkopf launches, I was referring to the Premier and S&S launched coasters that do not use a cable and out number the Schwarzkopf launchers. I guess I'll edit my post to spell it out clearly....

Jeff, if the cable didn't in fact break, but was just a scheduled replacement, then why schedule the replacement to start at 2:00 on a very busy saturday? Wouldn't, say, wednesday have been a better time to do it?

I think it was more of an "Oh, crap, this isn't good" replacement than a "Scheduled" one ;)

And why not do a little "preventative maintanance" before the season starts and replace the cable. It's going to have to be replaced some time, better before the park opens than in the middle of a busy Saturday.

The cable did not snap.

"Bryan Edwards, a park spokesman, said a strand on the cable that controls the ride's "catch car" broke about 2:30 p.m. Saturday when a train full of riders had soared up the ride's 420-foot first hill. The catch car is part of the ride's launch mechanism and carries trains along a straightaway, where they gather speed so they can crest the giant hill."