I 305 gets trim on the first drop

Yeah, I've seen them do the add/remove nonsense before, and explained to a manager (who likely blew me off, maybe rightfully so because I was a little drunk) that it was pretty stupid to do that. They were effectively killing an hour of capacity that the short period of four-train operation would never make up for. But worse was the well-known gotcha with the transfer. Apparently it suffers greatly from alignment problems, or at least, the computer thinks it does, and that means even more down time. That was 2006 I think, so perhaps they figured that out by now.

I rode it four times two weeks ago and experienced the "grey out" all four times. It was awesome!

I am wondering if the slight reduction in speed can have that much of an effect. I won't make it back to KD this season, so I will rely on the comparison of others.

Has anyone else noticed the slight hesitation in the lift speed as the train nears the top of the hill? The first time I rode I actually thought we were coming to an e-stop. The rest of my rides I still experienced the pause in speed, but not as dramatic as my first ride.

Yeah, and I wonder what causes that. I thought maybe it was a change in gearing or something as the other train cleared the block, but it did it with one train running as well. I wonder if there's a cable tensioning issue.

RideMan said:
Oh, really? Is that new for this season? That would certainly make it possible to bring trains into the station faster, which would help capacity in the unlikely event the ride is actually running both trains...

(okay, I know that's a cheap shot. But why it is that every time I go, Phantom runs one train more than it runs two. It's almost as bad as Dueling Dragons at IOA in that regard...)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I believe last year was the first year for it. Only the brakes on the transfer table are actuated. The others are in a static position. If a train is timed below a certain threshold, the magnetic brakes can drop 1/2 way. Below another threshold and they drop completely out of the way allowing just the pneumatic brakes to be active.

Interesting about my last trip on Dueling Dragons was that they did not duel. They sent my train (Ice) ridiculously early, and the VFD's could not compensate enough. We crept up the lift, but still crested when the other train wasn't even half way up.

That is my only complaint about Dueling Dragons, a seeming lack of caring about efficiency. Hulk on the other hand, they do an amazing job over there. I actually heard the person at controls urging the crew on to keep their streak of hitting interval going, and they were definitely trying.

That trim on I-305, indeed a bit of a shame, and hopefully it isn't too strong.

The park should ask for a refund of the price difference between building the ride at say, 250' (if that turns out to be the "initial drop velocity") and that of building the extra 55' tall... ;)

Jeff and Fever; im told by a close buddy who's an electrician there that the hesitation has to do with gearing. I dont know if that's exactly true, but thats what he said.

I, too, have heard the rumor, but the trim definitely has not been added yet as of today. I was riding it an hour ago, still fast, and there is NO parts on site for a trim brake being added. The site is completely clean, so the rumor that the trim is already in place is simply that, a rumour. I am surprised Screamscape hasnt posted some nonsense yet...

I will say this, though. They are definitely changing the restraint system. The test seat out front has the torso seat belt system, like the one you see on Tornado in Finland, which was rumoured to originally be the restraints. I asked a ride op why the restraints on the test seat were different than the train, and he said it was a prototype, and they were looking at replacing the restraints on the train for rider comfort. He may not have been totally correct, but I certainly found it odd to see the "new" restraint system on the test seat.

My personal opinion, it's a great coaster. Is it a top 10? Eh, to each his own. The mods have talked to us plenty of times about the "my coaster is better than your coaster" game, and I certainly am not going to play it. MF is a great coaster, Magnum is a great coaster, SROS/Bizzaro are great coasters.....I305 is a great coaster. I personally enjoy the heck out of it, and love that its 14 miles from my drive way. :)

vacoasterfreak said:
I will say this, though. They are definitely changing the restraint system. The test seat out front has the torso seat belt system, like the one you see on Tornado in Finland, which was rumored to originally be the restraints.

My personal opinion, it's a great coaster. Is it a top 10? Eh, to each his own.

I tell you what, if they replace the restrain system, put the trim at the top of the lift and remove the one at the mid-point of the ride, I would say the ride would probably move up quite a bit on my list.

Thanks for the confirmation Jeff.

I applaud Intamin for attempting the fast lift speed, but am not surprised there is a "quirk" in the system.

So is the new trim officially confirmed yet?

My wife and I were at KD last weekend.

While we were wating for Intimidator one of the security

gurads saw our ACE shirts and came over and started talking

to us.He told us they had put a brake on the ride because 

people were having "health issues".

you were told wrong, bobcat. Unless he was referring to the trim on the second major airtime hill, and to my knowledge, that trim has been there since the ride opened.

As far as health issues are concerned, there are about four signs and multiple audio warnings that the ride is intense and to not ride if you have such-and-such condition; but, after all, this is America, where ignorance is not only bliss, its a very real state of mind.

Here is a shot of the new restraints.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/columbusframer/I305restraints.jpg

These look so much better then the ones they started with. I don't know if they are on the trains yet or just the test seat.

Are there any pictures of the trim on the frirst hill?

I thought at this point we decided there is no trim.

But, are there any pictures?

So now you want photos of something that isn't there. Okay, I get that... :)

Next person to visit Kings Dominion, please take a picture of the place on Intimidator 305's first drop where the trim brake isn't. I even know the caption you can use: "Nothing to see here." :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Lord Gonchar said:
I thought at this point we decided there is no trim.

Trust, but verify......isn't that the quote from Ronnie Reagan? Joking aside, when Jeff says there is no brake...there is no brake Coasterbuzz readers. I am sure he will be the first to tell y'all if it gets installed at some point.

RideMan said:
So now you want photos of something that isn't there. Okay, I get that... :)

Next person to visit Kings Dominion, please take a picture of the place on Intimidator 305's first drop where the trim brake isn't. I even know the caption you can use: "Nothing to see here." :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

For verification purposes, I'm going to need a picture of the person taking the picture, in the process of taking the picture. I'd like them both time/date stamped, and they must match.

In that case you're not going to see the photos on this site. I distinctly remember hearing that Jeff specifically rejects photos that have time and date stamps on them. :)

(To Jeff: Spare me the metadata lecture. Just wanted to prove I was paying attention.)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I want a picture of the nonexistant trim with today's newspaper.