Just a scary thought..

I just had a scary thought. You know how a lot of coasters have tons of trees around them, and parks like to leave as many trees standing as possible. What if a tree fell, and landed on the track of a coaster, or tore it up? The train would either derail, or nail the tree, injuring and possibly killing the riders! Trees falling isnt a rare thing, my neighbors fell and smashed my dads truck just last year! Now that i have had this thought, it surprises me that it hasnt happened.

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Park without SkyCoaster, is no park at all.
*** This post was edited by NateBot on 7/11/2001. ***

Under normal circumstances, trees will show signs that they are ready to fall (such as they look dead, the roots are begining to show) and I'd guess this normally would be caught before it's a problem. Another thing would be, most coasters have 2-3 trains only, so is around only 33% likely that the train will have yet to go over that track.
Most of the time when trees fall, they will fall in a huge windstorm, when the coasters would be closed.
It is possible for a tree to fall on the track, and damage the coaster and maybe kill people, but thats not very likely to happen, and a chance you have to take. It's just like "what if lightning strikes the coaster while we are on it?" It probably won't happen, but you never know.
The only thing I know for sure is I don't want to be on that coaster when it happens!

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Cyclops. 1900 feet of CCI goodness.

Yeah i know that most trees will show signs. I didnt know if parks had people that walked through the forests and inspecting the trees each morning, like they do on coasters.

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Park without SkyCoaster, is no park at all.

that would be a pretty fun experience though ;o)

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"Ahh Beer. My one weakness. My Achilles heel, if you will" - Homer Simpson
"Whoooa, that's hot. There isn't a man alive who wouldn't get turned on by that. Well, goodbye!" - Homer Simpson

Not really.

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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com

That's why the circuits are continuously monitored by park personnel.

I doubt the trains would derail. Hey if it was an invert, would it really even matter?

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www.geocities.com/coasting_ohio for Real/Defunct/mini coasters and parks for RCT

Trees don't always show signs of falling. Some species have very shallow root systems. Heavy rains can saturate the soil essentially turning it to quicksand. The roots of a healthy tree can easily become dislodged causing the tree to tumble.

Other trees are just known for having weak branching structures and can drop large branches seemingly without warning.

Any number of freak accidents can and do happen in all aspects of life. Tree accidents can be minimized by judicious choice of species and proper placement in the landscape. Trees can also be monitored for signs of rot, particularly in the crotch of large branches. Branches that look like they are or could be unstable should be pruned off if they are in the path of a coaster, other rides, your house, etc.

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everything's better with a banjo

If that happened the train wouldn't de-rail, it'd go right through it. Don't you think a 20+ ton train would go right through a tree. Also wouldn't the sensors pick this up and stop the train?

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HurricaneGeauga- Just in case

Don't some parks restrain trees with cables if it leans over the track?

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Rollercoasters are the secret of life!

http://www.woodencoaster.com

Some trees will be restrained, yes, and every day (at CP at least) ride ops perform a track walk to check for branches/debris before ever testing the track. Then you send empty trains for a couple of circuits, then you send a test rider, so there's no risk of something happening overnight and remaining undetected until guests are riding.

If a storm of such intensity were to hit during the day, the same checks would be run before the coaster would reopen, of course. Granted, no, not all trees will show signs (there was a news item a few months back about a tree at Disney that just fell over without warning - you know that Disney would have caught it if there were signs!), but there are risks you take with anything you do. Yes, the coaster may be struck by lightning in a freak storm while you're on it if the storm is quick enough, etc.

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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/index.html

More Scary Thoughts.....
-MF is braked like MeanStreak
-Maggie sinks
-DT is left at CP
-CF heavily brakes ST
-Hypersonic's launch is slowed down
-AC is heavily braked
-X is never finished
-DeJa Vu is never done
-Raven burns to the ground
-SFWoA never adds a hyper
-SFEG never adds anything else...EVER
-Coasterbuzz closes

See scary things can happen....Also the odds of a tree falling while a train is on the track and the tree falls on top of it is like 1:1038475968404585.

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"Bathroom 1 looks too intense for me"-Ed Markey

It can happen just never has. Here is a link about a tree falling in a park if it had been near a coaster it could have hit it, no one knew it was coming.

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/news/news.asp?NewsID=1848
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Army rangers lead the way *** This post was edited by supermandl on 7/11/2001. ***

"If that happened the train wouldn't de-rail, it'd go right through it. Don't you think a 20+ ton train would go right through a tree. Also wouldn't the sensors pick this up and stop the train?"

If the tree tore the track up, it would derail.

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Those tracks are farely large I know that the wood under the steel flat pieces on a wooden coaster have 7+ planks of wood, that's alot that would have to be damaged and most likely the top rail would only be damages, not the side rail or the up-stop rail.

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"Villain-Once You Drop, The Fun Don't Stop!"~SFWoA Rules In 2001~X Marks The Spot In 2001(SFWoA)~With SFWoA ANYTHING Is Possible!

another reason for block brakes.

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Favorite Steel: Top Gun Favorite Wood: Hurler

If a tree fell on a coaster track and you crashed into it, you wouldn't be worrying about anything else ever again! The coaster would get repaired and life would continue on without you. Now, think happy thoughts and go grab a ride on a coaster somewhere!!

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Life is a Great Adventure!!