Investigators say excessive speed was cause for fatal miniature train crash

I know what you mean, Jason Hammond, and I kind of thought that when I mentioned the screaming, that my point there may be misunderstood... I was trying to imply that the kids in the video are screaming because of the excessive speed (with exception to the "dark" tunnel portion of the ride). I might even be screaming if I was on miniature railroad that was going that fast, but only because I know that train rides are not supposed to be thrill rides.

A lot of kiddy coasters don't reach speeds of twenty-something miles per hour.

Ok, I just watched the video again.

You can imply that the kids were screaming because of the excessive speed all you want, but we don't know that. They were screaming and yelling and being silly during the whole video, not just at the end before the crash.

Okay. I can accept that we have different interpretations. It was said somewhere that judging by the video, police determined that the train was traveling over twenty miles per hour. Put the video on mute, and you can still plainly see that the train is moving too fast.

I will say again that I would be screaming if I were on that train ride. It's a train, not a coaster. Plus, I am aware of the many other miniature train accidents.

Operating a miniature train reminds me of operating one of my old rides, Paddlewheel Excursions at Cedar Point. It's not on a track, and ride operators actually drive the boats through the lagoon. We had rules to follow, including operating the ride at a safe speed. (Other rules were that we weren't allowed to drive too close to land, with exception of the loading dock, and we were never allowed to point the boat in the opposite direction, with the exception of using another boat to rescue passengers on a stalled boat.) We knew that their were reasons for the rules, and had no problem following them.

I not only blame the operator of this train ride, but the park as well. Anyone who got caught operating the train at that speed should have been reprimanded. The park should have added features to the controls of the train to disallow it to be operated at that speed. This guy had said that he always operated the ride at that speed. Why would park management allow him to do that?

Well, the article also states that a supervisor did a ride along with the operator during a test run where the train was being operated at the same speed that caused the crash and nothing was said about it. Like I said in the other thread, it seems to me that a bunch of people did a bunch of things wrong here.

I rode a miniature train at a park earlier today and kids were screaming all the way round - it's what kids do.

LostKause said:
A lot of kiddy coasters don't reach speeds of twenty-something miles per hour.

That's exactly my point. regardless of what type of ride it is or how fast it goes, there will be kids there screaming.

I even believe the kids were screaming, "Go faster!"