Is Son Of Beast ever going to run three trains?


PKIEMPSOB said:
Ive been sent to FOF a few times and it was daunting to say the least.  Comming from a ride that 3 people can do it quickly to a ride where you need atleast 5 to do a quick job. Its an odd one. They ARE the same trains too!
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Son of beast/top gun crew 2001 and 2002

Well one reason we need six people on our ride is we have to stations, and our munchkin is required unlike on SOB, also your restraints are pretty much self explatory, and you dont have people pulling the seatbelt through the seat behind, or clipping it to their belt.

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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002

I find it hilarious sitting on the Tomahawk (SFNE) and people are wasting all their energy trying to hold down their restraints. Its very funny. Maybe its only like that because I know the sound that the restraints make when they lock. Still amusing...
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SFNE loses its "floor" for 2002! Visit www.geocities.com/sfneguy for info. and pics of SFNE, including the most unique constr. pics of SFNE on the web. Formerly known as srosatsfne.

Charles Nungester said:



FOF,  They are not new trains dude,   Jeff told me that they had just got the third one back a week prior to The Golden Ticket awards day.   The did not however put it into rotation for a few weeks after that,  Then they retrofited the Belt from a clip to a seatbelt thing.   At one point in time one train had the hooks and the other had the belt buckle.
Chuck, who says what you are seeing over in the Monorail area is the Fourth train which is used for peices if needed.
  
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Charles Nungester
167 coasters and hopes to be over 200 by the end of 2002

Train 3 was delivered to the ride on July 25 2001and already had the seat belts in them instead of the hooks(the other trains received the seatbelts prior to this) train 3 was actually added to the ride on september 21, 2001, what i'm trying to say is that train 3 never had the clips, it had the seatbelt the whole time.

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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002

I shall pat you on the back *pats on the back*. I had a horrid time every time i was sent there. only thing worse is 7th portal! Theres stupidiy at its best

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Son of beast/top gun crew 2001 and 2002

Yikes! Where to start! First of all, the thread started by talking not about Flight of Fear, but about Son of Beast. John Peck, pay closer attention next time!
Let's look at the blocking issue on Sonny, shall we? Let's see...There are block brakes (1) in the station, (2) just before the first drop, (3) the lift hill itself (not really a brake, but...well...you know...), (4) the mid-course brake, and (5) the transfer table at the end of the ride. That's how RCCA sees it, and that's why RCCA says the ride can run four trains. Paramount applies a different blocking standard which essentially does not allow for trains operating in adjacent blocks on the ride, a standard which allows for safe mechanical failures.
There is no reason they couldn't run three trains, though. The only reason I can think of for not running three is in the case of a catastrophic failure. Operationally, a catastrophic failure in this case means a failure where things are screwed up so bad you have to evacuate the ride from the block brakes. With only two trains running, one train can be parked in the station and the other can be parked on the transfer table, and both trains can be easily emptied. With three trains, one of the trains will be either on the lift or on the mid-course brake, and either way that means a walk-down from a hundred feet in the air at a location remote from the midway.

As for Flight of Fear...I see we have some crew people here...Did the change to the push-button buckle make a significant difference in loading time? I wouldn't be surprised if they at least try to use three trains this year. With three trains, there still is no need to operate the mid-course brake for trimming, and so long as the other two trains are moved up from the transfer table and unload station just as soon as the just-dispatched train clears the brakes at the end of the launch track, there's plenty of room to let that train go straight through and stop on the transfer table uptrack of unload. But everything has to move. And it only makes a difference if there is a corresponding reduction in cycle time. Time spent waiting for the train to arrive in the station (apart from the 5 seconds or so it takes for the launched train to clear the block) indicates another train might be useful.

Personally, I think the FoF load cycle could be reduced by re-doing the platform gates so that there is enough room for an operator to walk down the RH side of the train with the boarding gates open.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Welcome back Dave, the buckle type seatbelts did increase capacity a little, and also they dodint snap like the clips did resulting in the loss of a seat.
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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002
The Prodical Son Returns! It's been a hard week without your knowledge to settle some disputes, but we got through it okay. :)

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Sept. 11th 2001, Slayer released God Hates Us All. The song "Disciple" uncannily describes the events of that day, as well as the anthrax letters that followed.
--Slayer: Thrash band, or the next Nostradamus?

With the SOB issue, isn't there two sets of brakes by the tranfer table. Maybe i'm wrong or it would be to dangerous because the trains would be so close but why couldn't the trains stack up there. Also, can they really stop you completly on the center block brake before the loop.  Seems to me it would need a little boost to get it through the loop. Whenever I haven rode SOB I was barley stopped there

On the FOF issue, isnt there a brake section between the two stations on the turn around. I've seen a train wait there before and you can hear it letting off when the train is launched.  Is there a brake section there?

Yes there are two set of brakes on the transfer table on SOB, however only one train can occupie both of them.

On the FOF issue, there is a set of brakes between th 2 station, if FOF were to run three train the train positions would be prior to launch  Load station, waiting brakes(between the 2 stations), and unload.  so that would be how we could run three trains and not have to worry about the mid course block brakes

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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002

Yeah, I forgot about that brake between stations on Flight of Fear until moments after I sent that last message. :) I'm not positive, but when Sonny comes into the transfer table, it's moving pretty fast...I think that first set of brakes can only safely be used as an approach brake, with the second brake for fine positioning if the train is to be taken off.

For the curious: For the past week, I've been at a ride safety school in Portland, Oregon. Staying in a motel where the phone lines were so bad I couldn't get my modem to work. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
On restraints and "have no clue what they are doing" guests, I can say that many guests have problems. I worked on Space Mountain at DLP, which was built by Vekoma and has custom Vekoma trains. Custom in the way that unlike all the other Vekoma mulit-elements cars, the manual pedal for restraint release is on the back of the car, over the train assembly. Its necessary, since procedures says that cast member (CM) on the load side has to make sure everyone in the first 3 cars (out of 6) gets out, FAST! The CM on the unload side does the same for the last 3 cars. Its gets tricky, thanks to an interesting feature on the trains: if you push up on the harness, even if its unlocked by the pedal or automaticly, its won't release. The best way is to pull the harness. Now, take into considerations guests that... too quick for their own good and you have an interesting situation... Also, we have an added loophole: no air gates in the station! Its the job of the 3 CM by station (there are 2 stations, one of the left and the other on the right) to make sure nobody steps on the red line or tries to board the train when its entering or leaving station... Luckily, in the "annexe" station, whenever its busy, there is an added CM who's job is... Guest relations. Parents doing baby switch? Blue badge? blue card? Problem with an angry guest? Guest Relations take care of that. Now, for FOF, I'd see them put 4 operators in the loading station and 2 in the unloading station. Plus, a "Guest Relations" operator to take care of parent swap, children too small that passed the entrance operator, etc. Also, he/she could help with a slow guest, allowing the others to check restraints normally.

Now with blocking and brakes. I see how SOB could run 3 trains. The problem comes, on my part, from badly configured blocking zones. Your blocks have to be placed in the right way, or else, a block could be too long and the other too short, causing set-ups (like other said). Also, due to the fact that only one train can be in the pre station brakes also complicate the thing, since, if there are slow guests in the station and its can't leave fast enough, you're going to have a set-up on the block brake, which is a major problem whenever lap bars are involved (guests can slip out of a lap bar, harnesses are quite harder to get out, even with mischievous guests...). I have seen, on a woodie, a ride op walk to the end brakes and check the guests, to make sure nobody tries to get out when there's a slow dispatch. That is, I believe the reason SOB can't run a third train, especially with the lap bars and seatbelts its has.

Absimilliard:

SOB doesn't have seatbelts, just FOF does, also SOB has good capacity any way due to loading and unloading from the same station.

Also FOF only has 6 peole 4 in the station, 1 in unload, and a GR person at the front of the line

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Beast_rocks,

 I have been stopped on the center block brake a few times. When the train is released, there is drive wheels that give the train a boost to push it out of the block area, and down into the drop before the loop.  The train is supposed to hit 62 MPH while entering the loop so the kicker wheels do help a bit.

-Sean

Yeah, I also have come to a complete stop on the block-brakes on SOB,  I beleive it was so the operator could make a speil to not use cameras, the brakes released and we went through the loop and the rest of the ride okay.
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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002
Absimilliard, isnt it easier to get out of OTSRs than lap bars. At least the new lap bars they get them down tight and your not goin any where.
Thats true, on SOB, i have trouble getting out because my knees get stuck under the bar sometimes, however i have not had this happen on FOF

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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002

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