Kings Island: Vortex broken chain

Vortex broke (or somehow severely damaged) a lift chain on Saturday. Here are pics taken just a couple minutes after the incident.

http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/ebajane1979/Snapbucket/BBD49B4C-orig-1.jpg

http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/ebajane1979/Snapbucket/BBD49B4C-orig-2.jpg

Stuff happens :) Thanks for the pictures. I hope no one was hurt. Years ago, the chain on the Adventureland Dragon (an interesting ride, indeed) broke and the chain came up and over (a-la Intamin cable) the front of the train.

I always wondered what the plans were if the cable snapped on Milenium Force when the train was towards the top?

When I rode it, I sure don't remember any stairs to walk back down..

It didn't appear that anyone was hurt at all. There was a mom very upset because her kids were stuck on the ride...but I imagine her kids were probably loving it and having the time of their lives.

It definitely makes you appreciate the security features and procedures that prevent incidents like this from happening very often...and generally prevent them from being too dangerous when they do happen.

Dodge, this is your answer:

http://pointbuzz.com/Photos/Photo.aspx?id=3795&tag=millennium+force

There is a motorized lift next to the track that runs the length of the lift hill.

Thanks Keith... another mystery answered! :)

After an unfortunate incident on Corkscrew at Cedar Point, Cedar Fair added guard plates to many of their chain guides so that a broken chain would remain contained. I don't know off-hand whether KECO/Paramount did something similar, but Vortex does have guards on its chain guide. Also, as anyone who has ever ridden or stood near Vortex can tell you, Vortex also has at least one chain safety ratchet...an anti-rollback device on the chain itself.

On Sunday, from Windseeker I could see that long sections of the lift chain had been removed and laid out alongside the lift hill. No photos of that: can't take pictures from Windseeker, and the board fence next to the ride is too high to get photos from the midway. I also noticed that trains were stopped on the bottom of the lift hill, on the mid-course block brake, and on the transfer table. Apparently, the train on the lift didn't get far enough to allow the next train into the station, resulting in the need to evacuate people from the mid-course brake. I thought it interesting that they couldn't manually advance the trains to empty one in the station and one on the transfer table (obviously the one on the lift wasn't going anywhere!)

In replacing the chain, I wonder if they would hoist or push the train to the top of the lift to get it out of the way, or if they would just drop the new chain into the guide and let it roll down under the train...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.