New lap-bar only trains on Vekoma Boomerang

The gray/steel look of the butterfly bars is a bit frightening. Maybe orange lap-bars would be more appealing. ;)

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boblogone said:
The gray/steel look of the butterfly bars is a bit frightening. Maybe orange lap-bars would be more appealing.

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Screw orange lap bars! Thanks to a certain rid op at Great Adventure circa 87-88.

How about red (holidayworld, hershey) blue or .. i dunno, something that matches the train.

I dunno, I think grey/steel looks modern. Orange OTSRs always bothered me. Why orange? Were they worried that people weren't going to see them?

How about a faux wood look?

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CoastaPlaya said:
'fact captain'

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This term is officially in my every day usage now ;) Is it me, or does Playa have something for "captains"? ;)

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Gary B said:
^How can a train stall? And you say they are known for it? Which ones and where? It may sound stupid to those of you that have been informed on this subject, but I know nothing and would like to. Stories, explanation and examples would be greatly appreciated.

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The Vampire at Kentucky Kingdom stalled multiple times, stranding riders. They removed the ride.

Actually, I don't even like playing 'fact captain' whatsoever. I've always thought it silly.

But if ya wanna make a post correcting somebody else about who-did-what-and-when in the ride industry and even I know better? Oh come ON.

-CO

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Gary B said:
^How can a train stall?

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Either the train would have to lose a wheel or two (unlikely), or prematurely release from one of the two lifts (more likely), leaving the train to only get halfway through the boomerang element. As others have said, these incidents have resulted in most of the rides being fitted with an evac platform and staircase. I was under the impression that the brakes at the bottom of the second lift were also to prevent valleys, as they seem to operate as to stop a train if it didn't make it to the top of the spike.

Edit: A quick glance at Google provides several examples, such as this, this, and this. *** Edited 8/6/2007 10:24:43 PM UTC by PhantomTails***

Lapbars become orange after a ride op at SFGAdventure sent a train out on Lightnin' loops when a girl didn't have her harness on....

More pics with train in action:
http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID39&om=2691&omm=148&viewmode=

Note that this Version has no evac-platform!

^ It does look like it would reduse the bang. Can you imagine if the SLC's only had lap bars.

cool - if this catches on I may finally be able to ride the Vekoma/Arrow coasters without all the pain of having my over-sized spine being crunched by the OTSR.
It does look though as if a little padding on the naked metal could do it no harm - and also as if other kinds of 'oversize' might have some problems with it.

OK, so maybe they valley in the sidewinder/cobra roll, that isn't exactly upsidedown. Besides, isn't getting stuck upsidedown in ANY restraint pretty uncomfortable, not to mention so rare that its virtually a non-issue? (no need to link to storys of coasters getting stuck upsidedown, I know it happens, but it so rare that you have a better chance of winning the lottery twice)

I can't see a downside to these bars either. *** Edited 8/8/2007 8:21:16 PM UTC by Soggy***

^Hey, there's a name I recognize from back in the day.

Hopefully this improves ridership. I rode this one solo which was, uh, awkward.

Damn...can we please get some of these here in the US? Just imagine what they could do for a ride like Ninja at SFOG!

That same company handles Premier LIM coasters, trains, and wooden trains for Germany. Why can't they just use Premiers lap bar configuration on their trains for Vekoma Boomerangs.

You'd think that S&S would market a new train for all those Arrow loopers that are in operation. They could use those restraints that are on the Screamin Swing, and Powder Keg. Guess a lot of amusement companies aren't really interested in investing for an older ride that people are still riding how they are.

^I understand SAT only build parts for the Premier trains. I don´t think they have the right to use the premier design for their own rolling stock.

This particular Boomerang is located in a pay-per-ride park. So the owner is very much interested to attract new and repeat riders.

I just wonder that Vekoma has not come up with a similar idea since they introduced the really great lapbar system for their suspended coasters.

Vekoma offered at least three new train variations for their looping coasters:
- the very minimalistic design which is used on their Tilt coaster

- the bulky but apparantly quite good trains which run on Power Parks Boomerang and on an Arrow coaster in Asia

- the "Dragster for the very poor"-design which, AFAIK, was never sold but resembles those SAT-trains)

But it seems that parks prefer to go to other companies (Kumbak and SAT) to retrofit their Vekoma or Arrow coasters. Seems Vekoma are not that cheap anymore these days?

By the way, for those are wondering, the quote:

"Die Sitzschalen sind sehr bequem, das Beste an den neuen Sitzen ist natürlich die Schulterfreiheit." was posted in the forum with the pictures in the new trains in action, means:

"The restraints are very comfortable, the best part of the new seats is the freedom around the shoulders, naturally."

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tricktrack said:
More pics with train in action:
http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID39&om=2691&omm=148&viewmode=

Note that this Version has no evac-platform!

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I wondered where the theming on Dragster went to. ;)

^^Actually, "Sitzschale" is not really the restraint system, it rather refers specifically to the molded seat. (literally: seat shell).
So it doesn't really say that the lapbar is particularly comfortable.
:)

Those lapbars (from original message) look fairly Sadistic. Some folks pay good money for bruising like that in their upper thighs ;-) but not usually in the context of a roller coaster.

- E