Knott's begins pull through testing of Xcelerator
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Knott's Berry Farm started the tedious task of pulling a partial Xcelerator train through the course to check for clearances and track alignment. They were able to clear the station and top hat element before the end of the day.
Check the photos on Westcoaster.net and ACN.
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Got Nuts!
These sure do. Love the Photos.
September can't get here fast enough.
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If Lifes a Rollercoaster, I want a Flawless
Some of you guys make it sound like those guys are crazy, or doing stupid things up there.
It might just be the fact that I've got about 10 years rock climbing experience under my belt, and to be honest, I'd stand on anything, any height, so long as I'm clipped in. That and I've done industrial height work in the past.
Believe me, its potentially safer than riding a rollercoaster. Like I'll tell you if you come out climbing with me - its as safe as you make it.
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So what if the best coaster in Australia is a second hand Arrow?
a href=http://www.totalthrills.com/~dreamworld/Dreamworld Tour/***
the coaster looks cool, but i thing the trains are a little strange, i'd choosen to use trains that look verry futuristic (or that look like a ferrari or lamborgini, because of the launch speed)
look at this pic, you can see the guy his safty harnas http://www.westcoaster.net/images/updates/051302/051302-kbf023-sm.jpg
(copy and paste)
*** This post was edited by Madhollander on 5/15/2002. ***
The risk of looking "futuristic" today is looking old tomorrow. See: "Tomorrowland" at Disney until recently. That's the nice thing about the past... it doesn't change.
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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"
Madhollander said: ""the guys use one or two hooks that the attach to the coaster track, that's how they got up and down the tophat""
Ummm... actually I hate to disappoint you... but those guys straight monkeyed the track. Literally. Climbed it like a ladder, then tied off only when they weren't moving around while up there.
The guys who rode up in the actual cars were tied off all the way up though. The guys who monkeyed their way up didn't tie off til they got all the way up their temporary stationary positions though. And even then, they were moving around so much they weren't tied off for a majority of the time.
They spent over five hours up there during the whole process (up on the top hat itself). On top of the track... inside the box track... up, down, around, all over. It was quite the sight to see. In all, took them apx. seven hours (10am til a little after 5pm) to get from the station all the way through the top hat.
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-Dan
http://www.westcoaster.net
Isn't that a serious OSHA violation?
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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"
anyway Mr Toad, in that case the guys ARE crazy, and it's dangerous to...
Occupational Health and Safety Administration. They're the agency here in the US that says you need fall protection, gloves and eye protection with chemicals, etc.
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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"
I don't know about USA laws, but that OCSA sounds very similar to the Workplace Health and Safety regulations in place in Australia. Knotts would simply not be allowed to do this, or rather, the contractor or actual workmen.
No professional in this industry I've talked to would ever do such things without anchoring off, and be anchored at all times, using dual automatic connectors and a Y-lanyard.
You yourself said they were up there for 5 hours. If that is the case, then simply said, they would not be climbing up and down track without protection 100% of the time. The only time I'm ever at a height without protection, is somewhere that I'm familiar enough with the surroundings - currently the only place I ever do that is in my own backyard, namely in the trees where I climb when I can't get out to any cliffs.
We're talking about over 20 storeys in the air. I've done work two storeys in the air where Australian legislation prohibited me from leaving protection. Where there wasn't built protection, we had to make our own, setting up anchors and belaying each other. Surely American law isn't so different as to allow such unsafe practise.
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So what if the best coaster in Australia is a second hand Arrow?
a href=http://www.totalthrills.com/~dreamworld/Dreamworld Tour/***
Fine... don't believe me. I only stood there for 7 hours watching them... With the amount of moving around they did all over the train itself, and up, down, and around several sections of that top hat, there is no way they could have been tied off the whole time. Physics prevents it... unless they've come up with a new revolutionary rope or cable that can pass through solid steel... MONKEYS I tell you...haha
To answer NickNickNick's question: It took a very long, complicated, and tedious process of tieing off the train, repositioning the pulleys and the crane too if necessary, doing this numerous times, and literally pulling this thing through inches at a time. Only the two vertical sections had the crane attached directly to the train. Everything else used a pulley system and took much longer
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-Dan
http://www.westcoaster.net
Did you ever consider that it took seven hours because of all the tying off they had to do?
Is it possible that they weren't doing it? Of couse it is. Is it likely they weren't doing it, given my limited knowledge of OSHA regulations? Doubt it.
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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"
Mr Toad said: unless they've come up with a new revolutionary rope or cable that can pass through solid steel
Im sure they were tied off the entire time that they were up there, OSHA requires it. I'm sure that they were wearing some type of fall-protection equipment that was secured to the track or the train at all times. Now your probably thinking what if they want to walk more then the rope will allow, that is why they usually have 2 or more ropes and clips that way they can keep on walking and always have at least one rope and clip secured.
You can even see in one of the pictures that one of the guys is wearing a harness.
Actually it was a pubicity stunt for Spiderman!
Tobey Macquire dressed up as a Builder to scale the top hat. Unfortunately due windy conditions, he could not swing from the top hat, like SFMMs Dive Devil, so assisted with the Xcelerator pull around.
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If Lifes a Rollercoaster, I want a Flawless
They would have used wide automatic connectors to be connected to steel cross-ties on the track, not ropes or cables. Fir interests sake, cables are never used as a temporary anchor, permanent often, but temporary protection lines are static industrial rope, with very low elongation values.
You say now 7 hours was spent up there. 7 Hours can not be spent walking backwards and forwards on a section of track no longer than 20 metres at the top. If it was indeed 7 hours, then they must have been moving slowly, ie, continuously changing anchors as they move. I don't care what is said, there is no way that these guys were up there without protection all the time.
If you have a photo of them up there, clearly without any protection, then I'll believe you, and if I were in the same state (or country), I'd be doing some reporting. It is the same thing as with all this coaster injury stuff, only this affects professional people; puts their jobs at stake.
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So what if the best coaster in Australia is a second hand Arrow?
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