Intamin Holes

I was looking at pictures and NoLimits Intamin hyper trains. What are 'holes' for on the front of the train???
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HarKarVolBasTre: It's on my speakers!

Those are the tops of the wheel assemblies. Check out this photo. I've never really looked, but I assume there is some kind of spring mechanism in there that acts as a shock absorber, because they move independently of the body cover. It's more pronounced on the other hypers because they have a lower-profile shell on the front compared to the Millennium Force trains.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Yeah here's another pic from Coastergallery.com, http://www.coastergallery.com/SF/SFA20.html like the Millennium Force trains the wholse appear right over the "Shock Absorbers" that Jeff pointed out. :)
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Skater for life!

On second thought, they might just be the wheel assemblies. I don't know how much shock absorbtion you can really do, seeing as how the brake fins have very little room for error inside those magnets.

So has anyone ever taken one apart? RideMan, your speculation?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

On that turn after the final bunny hop (On Millennium Foce), you get a great look at the absorbers in action from the que. I have no clue how they work, but they work so smoothly, It was alsmost like it was a fluid movement. Do you suppose those shocks are liquid filled?
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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz" "My Fellow Americans, Lets Roll!"

Given my usual inability to get a front seat ride on Millennium Force....... :)
I think the Intamin wheel assemblies are attached independently to the car chassis; they are not attached to the ends of an axle. I think the only shock absorption on them is that the guide wheels and upstop wheels are somehow spring loaded to maintain contact with the rail; there is no reason to do that with the road wheels because the weight of the car will hold those down.
Now, it could be as simple as this: The wheel carrier has to be able to rotate about a vertical axis...that is, to turn left to right. That would require some kind of vertical tower to attach the wheel carrier to, and that tower would be too high for the 'hood' of the car to clear. It's only speculation at the moment, but without an opportunity to take a good hard look at the car....... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I have pictures somewhere with the cover off up close.  Give me a day or two to dig it up.
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Daniel Haverlock
magnum count :2166
www.spiritofthepoint.com

RideMan has the correct idea. The front wheel assembly on Intamin trains is free to pivot and tilt independantly.  Its kind of like one truck on a train car with the addition of underfriction and side friction wheels.  The parts that stick up are kind of rubber bushings that act as springs / shock absorbers and may provide a little bit of independant movement for the two sides.

Some of the wheel assemblies on steel trains have become very complex.  I spent a couple of days looking a Batwing's wheels, and I still wasn't quite sure how it all worked.

I found another good picture, and it illustrates my point that you get a great view of the undercarriages of the cars as they fly by the line.
http://www.themeparkcritic.com/Uploads/39/MFTrain2.jpg
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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz" "My Fellow Americans, Lets Roll!"

I couldn't find it on the net, but there is a drawing that CP had available when MF was being built that showed this more clearly than any photo that I've seen

Ask that Jeff felow, he seems to have every Millennium Force drawing out there.

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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz" "My Fellow Americans, Lets Roll!"

If you want to look underneath, look here.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

This is the best shot I could find.

http://www.spiritofthepoint.com/images/mf/leadredtrain.jpg

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Daniel Haverlock
magnum count :2166
www.spiritofthepoint.com

Ah... that explains why I've seen them move. No shocks there for sure, but the wheels pivot on a long beam that connects to the chassis at the middle where it pivots. It never occured to me that it had to work that way, because the front wheels must move independently of the second set. For every other car on the train, the "front" wheels are actually the rear wheels of the next car. Between the cars is the pivot point or hitch that has to be made similarly on the front car. Essentially, those front wheels on the front car act as the "zero car" you find on sit-down and stand-up B&M loopers.

Good spot, Dan!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Remember that Intamin trains are the inspiration for the Knex Screamin' Serpent train.  If you know how the lead car works on that, you've pretty much got how an Intamin train works, except that the hood covers all the pivoting except for the holes.
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Scott W. Short
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

Which, in turn, explains the holes:

The Arrow (Corkscrew) and B&M trains are a similar design to the Intamin train mechanically, but differ in the handling of the lead axle. Arrow reverses the train configuration, so the front axle of the train is fixed relative to the car body and the last axle can roll (as seen in this photo previously posted). B&M attach the wheel cover to the lead axle. Intamin attaches the wheel cover to the lead car, and thanks to the axle rotation, those holes have to be there to allow clearance for the axle.

Forget most of what I said earlier about independent wheel carriers. That's sort of true for the rest of the train, but the lead axle is just that...an axle. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So in essence, those holes provide clearence for the "Zero Car", or first axel to move up, left and right independently of the rest of the car?

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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz" "My Fellow Americans, Lets Roll!"

Whatever the reason, I'll take the ride on those Intamin trains before ANY B&M hypers...I know I'll catch flak, but the Intamins provide the feeling of speed I just don't seem to get in the B&M trains of AC or Nitro...

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PoTP acolyte - remove fear to reply
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!