Lightning Rod Officially Getting the Chain Lift Treament

Dollywood announced on their socials today that Lightning Rod will be getting a "high-speed" chain lift as well as brand new trains. This comes after having seven years of operation that was plagued by downtime, of which a good chunk was directly related to the launch.

I attended CoasterCon at the park in June. The park appeared to operate with one train to try to alleviate the issues. Due to the number of attendees, they attempted to run two trains during our ERT sessions, but that led to the launch shutting down and rolling back every 15-ish minutes. Not even exaggerating.

https://twitter.com/Dollywo...5071919200

I file this under the same category as water rides with super steep drops, and drop towers with seats that pitch forward. Is the anticipated heightened thrill (or unique marketing angle) worth the risk? And the risk could be actual safety risk, or it could be technical risk, i.e. reliability/downtime. When it comes to amusement rides, I think sometimes it's better to stick with what works and what is simple, especially if the gains aren't proportional to the risk. I've never ridden Lightning Rod, but I have to wonder how much the launched lift adds to the experience? Could the ride be just as good with a conventional chain lift, high-speed or otherwise?

I'm not sure what to think of this. The launched lift is really cool, but not what makes the ride spectacular.

Or is it? Not the lift itself, but the speed at which it crests the top. If the lift speed was reduced significantly, I'm not sure it would affect the overall speed of the ride enough to drastically alter the experience, but as it is now, it does thrust you into the first drop pretty fast. I do wonder how "high speed" the chain lift would be.

I still don't understand how they screwed this up so badly. LSM launches are proven and reliable in most all cases these days... What made this install so difficult?

I mean, even Intamin got it right with Maverick (incline/lift type LSM deal) back in 2007.

I get that prior to the retrack, they blamed the track gauge and all that for the issues if I recall... OK, so they fixed that with the I-Box, no? Then they still have issues?

It just seems bizarre to me.

Here's a little tidbit from my GCI days:

If you look at any of their coasters that have magnetic brakes, you'll notice that the track is slightly banked in the brake run. This is done so that the train will always fall to the side and run along one rail. This allow them to more tightly control the location of the brake by dimensioning it directly from the lower rail, rather than to the track center. If the track was flat, then you'd have to account for the gage and whatever shuffling could occur with the train.

I watched the POV and it doesn't look like the launch track is banked (not surprising), but I don't know exactly what the issues are related to the unreliability of the launch. The air gap tolerances between the stator and magnetic fins are pretty tight.

Why not Hulk it up?

Dollywood is so classy. They just level with us in the video. "I know it's been frustrating when the ride has been closed so much. We're making this change so that when you come through the gates, you'll know that the ride is actually open, for a change." (I'm paraphrasing.)

I had this idea, almost. My fix was to instal a chain lift that was a little bit higher, so you'd still get the same speed throughout the ride. Thier idea is to install a high-speed chain lift. They say in the video that the coaster will still be traveling over the lift at 13PMH, just like it does now, so the experience will not be any different after the drop.

I still need to get down there and ride that thing. The park is only about a five or six-hour drive.

Bakeman31092:

I watched the POV and it doesn't look like the launch track is banked (not surprising), but I don't know exactly what the issues are related to the unreliability of the launch. The air gap tolerances between the stator and magnetic fins are pretty tight.

I get that with GCI and other wood coasters, but with RMC and the (eventual) I-Box overhaul of the launch and other parts of the ride, would the gauge not be really tightly controlled at this point? Steel track with the (steel) cross-ties controlling the gauge? Watching POV's, it's hard to imagine that it would be an issue at that point.

SteveWoA:

I mean, even Intamin got it right with Maverick (incline/lift type LSM deal) back in 2007.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that statement. Maverick is still down pretty frequently. Reliable is not a word I would associate with it.

I'm definitely curious to see how reliable Top Thrill 2 will be though.

I know they say it will crest the lift at the same speed, but just for funsies, I wonder how much it would matter anyway. From what I understand and remember about the "Millennium Force sometimes hits 100!!!" days, the initial speed over the top of the lift hill has very negligible impact on anything but the first moment of the first drop and the speed converges to the same value (regardless of initial speed) fairly quickly along the course.

I haven't been on it. Did the launched ride give a little pop of airtime over the top of the lift?

It did, especially in the back.

I'm with Vater; it did. However, the airtime over the top of the first hill was less exhilarating than the launch itself, and the airtime over the second (main) drop.

If it gets it running consistently, with multiple trains, I think it'll be a worthy sacrifice for all.

Lightning Rod is one of my favorites and I have to say the launch lift plays a major part in my overall awe of the ride. The sensation of the train suddenly speeding up the hill seems so incongruous. And yes, I’m aware of the Mavericks and Hulks of the world, but somehow this is different. And I thought the conversion from a wooden track to mostly steel would make a difference in the experience but to me it didn’t.
I have to slightly disagree with others here about what actually happens at the top of the lift. The launch part of the lift ends a few feet from the crest- it’s really evident while riding and is quite visible from the ground. Consequently, the train loses a bit of speed before it has a chance to go over. The back of the train does indeed experience air time down the first drop (technically the second) but no more that any other powerhouse RMC. It I’ve always wondered what the ride would be like if it would be allowed to go full throttle over the top. Now having said that, I feel none of that negatively affects the remainder of the ride. It’s clever layout around the top and on the face of the hill provides one violent airtime moment after another. The triple (quad?) down is so freaking thrilling it should be against the law. What Lightning Rod lacks in length and ride-time it gains back in thrills.
So that’s what I think, and I’m worried that this change will take away some of that thrill factor, not only on the lift but even as the train navigates the entire course. I feel like one of the luckiest enthusiasts alive as I recall only one time when I visited Dollywood and found the ride to be down all day.(and that was at the beginning of the inaugural season) After that I’ve been blessed with good (albeit sometimes slow) operations and visits on days when the crowds were light. A couple of Christmas season visits resulted in walk-on conditions all day. And I can’t speak to what multiple train ops would be like as on the days I was there it wasn’t needed.
I’m just grateful I got to fully experience the coaster when it was at its personal best.

ApolloAndy:

From what I understand and remember about the "Millennium Force sometimes hits 100!!!" days, the initial speed over the top of the lift hill has very negligible impact on anything but the first moment of the first drop and the speed converges to the same value (regardless of initial speed) fairly quickly along the course

I'd tend to agree with this, based on the behavior of FOF at KI. They're completely stopping the train on the MCBR now, to the point it takes a good 5+ seconds for the train to get enough speed just to roll off the brake run. Despite this, by the time it gets to the ending corkscrew, it seems to be going as fast as it ever did.

I recall when visiting SFDK in 2012, they were slowing Roar down to the point of just crawling over the lift hill, now it makes me wonder if that actually had any effect.

RCMAC:

The sensation of the train suddenly speeding up the hill seems so incongruous...

"Hey Siri? Define incong- incongroo-... Hey siri? Define I-N-C-O-N-G-R-U-O-U-S."

My personal theory is that the LSMs overheating is a big problem. This would explain why the ride was more reliable with one train operation than with two. I also noticed that the motors were being sprayed with copious amounts of water which isn't something I'm used to seeing on modern launched rides -- that takes me back to the old school California Screamin' LIMs. Remember that this was the first (and only) coaster to have a launch manufactured by Velocity Magnetics.

RCMAC:

The triple (quad?) down is so freaking thrilling it should be against the law. What Lightning Rod lacks in length and ride-time it gains back in thrills.

Yep. This is exactly it.

I also feel lucky, as our family trip back in 2018 saw Lightning Rod running with absolutely no issues and we got lots of rides on it.

Before we rode I remember thinking, "Well, it won't be any Steel Vengeance, but I'm sure it will be fun". I (and the rest of the Meyer clan) was blown away, and RCMAC just highlighted what, in my opinion, is one of the more awesome coaster moments I have ever experienced. Violent thrilling fun is a good way to describe it.

The launch up the lift was a fun sensation for sure and certainly the first and (moments later) second hill crests memorable; my hope is that those would be the only moments of the ride impacted.

How fast can a chain lift go?

The statement from the park does claim that the speed over the top will be the same, so in theory the train will still run through the course at its normal or usual speed. Which leads me to theorize that the chain lift up the hill may feel a little slower but it won’t have to take that reduction in speed at the top. The entire lift will be taken at whatever speed the train crests the top today. It may not have the impact of the sudden launch but the rest of the ride will be just fine.

I'm wondering if they'll take the time to convert the rest of the track while they're at it. Last time I rode it the wood bits had a fair few potholes.