El Toro Tops off lift

Unless they've been splicing in new links, I doubt it, because it has been broken.

does anyone know a site that has more information on the plug an play frabrication??? does that simply mean that pieces are pre-bent, and just need to be connected, like with a steel?

Also, do the cable lifts have conventional anti rollbacks?

the track is manufactured over at the intamin plant. swizterland i think? and transported to the location. somewhere in europe. the wood support structure/bents is constructed on site. the prefabercated track is set down onto the bents. here is a picture of the track before it is attached, you can sett the lego shaped ends & how they lock up. http://www.rcdb.com/ig3183.htm?picture=5
the track is the "pre-fab" portion, as opposed to the many layers of wood facened plank by plank. the pre-fab track is what saves construction time & generates the smoother ride

---

Jeff said:
Never hear of chains breaking? Have I ever mentioned I was on SFA's Superman when the chain broke?

---

Figures it was an Intamin ride!

---

Rob Ascough said:
Actually, the only problem I see with the cable lift system is the reliability of the cable itself. How many times has MF's cable snapped and been replaced? Since you never hear of lift chains snapping, I'd say that's a problem.

If Intamin could devise a cable that doesn't snap, I think it's a good solution for taller coasters that need a quick way to get trains to the top quickly.

---

Tell that to the maintenance guys that worked on MF in 2000 and 2001. :)

The drive itself has caused far more downtime in hours than the downtime caused by the cable. This includes the times that the crew called the ride down for suspected cable problems and it ended up being grease buildup on the cable. There are of course the many hours the ride was down as maintenance went up on the lift to check out the cable. The problem wasn't that maintenance said it was okay, but that management overruled them and kept the ride running untill it snapped. The job of the cable is actually quite demanding but the maintenance on it isn't bad. All cables will snap if not replaced when warning signs are given. Intamin could have used two smaller cables to hoist the train with better longevity. Of course it would increase costs and every dollar a ride costs more gives another company a better chance of getting the bid for the job. Intamin wasn't the only bidder or gave the best ride but they were the lowest bidder. On the other hand, Cedar Point could have replaced the cable before a significant number of wire seperations occurred.

Even the hydraulics have caused around the same amount of downtime at the cable has. They are only used as a backup in case the ride cannot be run with the main motors such as a power outage. It's not exactly something that can be bypassed. If there is something wrong with it then it will estop the ride.

Millennium Force's hoist cable has snapped exactly once. At that time the ride was still in the spotlight which was why management was pushing limits to keep it open. After talking about it so many times the topic gets boring and fades into history. This happens just like every other incident such as chains snapping. The cable was replaced in 2003 well before a failure. To the best of my knowlege the new cable put on in Sept. '03 is still okay and will be used next summer. The drive system is a big factor in shock loading the cable. Accelerating too quickly out of the station and on the lift is one problem. Another is that the catch car would sometimes tap the train and a gap would form, and then it would accelerate into it with a bang. It seems that the fixes to the drive have been able to increase the life of the cable.

Another problem with cable life was that the staff at one time would stop the ride while the train was leaving the station when a seatbelt or lapbar wasn't secured properly or another problem arose. The train wouldn't get high enough to engauge the antirollbacks. The catch car would stop quickly while the train coasts up the hill. Then the train reverses and accelerated backwards into the catch car with quite a slam. This also gave the cable one hell of a shock load. Now the train is stopped completely on the lift whenever safely possible so the antirollback engauge the train. If someone has a lapbar but not a seatbelt or a seatbelt but not a lapbar than then they can safely stop the train on the lift. If both are undone then the ride must be estopped and whatever damage to the ride incurred. They are all safety violations and proper steps taken to prevent it from happening again. (Employees will get a write up, transfered from the ride and/or fired depending on the situation and their failures of the safe operation of the ride, or a guest removed and banned from the park for their actions.)

In the end, the drive has caused not only downtime by itself but it has accelerated wear on the cable. One of the problems with a first of a kind system is that these problems haven't yet been found. Intamin has been more conservative on their cable lift systems, with El Toro being included. So far they have been quite successful past Millennium Force.

---

Rob Ascough said:

---

Jeff said:
Never hear of chains breaking? Have I ever mentioned I was on SFA's Superman when the chain broke?

---

Figures it was an Intamin ride!

---

You haven't heard the one about "Chang" being the sound of a lift chain breaking, because that's what happened to it on its opening day...

Chains break often. Even on B&M rides.

What are you talking about? B&M's are prefect and have never had a chain snap, drive tire fall off, brake problems or other major problems... ;)

And if memory serves me correctly, the replacement chain for S:ROS at SFA snapped again not soon after. But no, Jeff has never ever told that story:)

It snapped twice in it's first month of operation. There apparently was a problem with the linning that caused premature wear on the chain. They fixed that problem and it's been okay since.

The chain intamin provided wasn't strong enough, they got a stronger chain after intamins 2nd chain broke.

The chain on Adventureland's Dragon snapped in 1991, causing some injuries. I'm not sure if the chain whipped back and smacled a rider or what, but I remember hearing one rider's arm was injured.

I was getting ready for a lap on Magnum 3 years ago, we got about half way up the lift and then felt a slight motion backwards as the chain dog clicked into it's anti-rollback "slot." My brother and I looked at each other and then down below the structure. To our amazement, there was a rapidly growing pile of chain with more chain still falling.

Luckily no one was hurt and we were all evacuated down the stairs adjacent to the track. Like Jeff said, unless they've been splicing chain, it can't possibly be on the original chain.