One coaster, multiple train types

Does anyone know of a coaster that has more than one type of train running at the same time? For example, if you took Mantis and ran a stand-up train, a floorless train and a sit-down train all at the same time, it would be cool to have a different ride experience with each different train. Do any coasters operate like that?

There is a coaster in Japan that runs both a sit down train and a stand up train.

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- Peabody

Going one further, what if there were different cars on the same train? Do some statium seating, floorless in front, then hyper/speed train, followed by standing. ...just a silly thought.....

There are a couple of coasters with cars facing both forwards and backwards.

The major problems with mixing cars or train types are different elevations of the rider above the track and designing a station that can load and unload the different types of cars.

I would imagine that the position of the rider's center of gravity goes into a lot of the calculations of ride design. Even in the case of the Japanese coaster that has a sit down and a stand up on the same track, I wonder what the differences in g's are and if they would be acceptable in the US.

It is a neat idea but I am sure it is more than just a matter of throwing a different train on the track.

Actually the difference in a floorless train station and a stand-up or sit-down is major (not trying to insult anyone's intelligence). Floorless train stations are unique compared to other types since the floor actually drops away when the train leaves. It would definately require a redesigned station to allow floorless and other types.

I think as long as you mix anything sit down you would be ok. Throwing in the standup cars would just make things too complicated. Heck most parks already have problems with stacking when the train only has one type of seat. The operators having to check each type of restraint. Thinking of safety concerns, they might forget to check something on one kind because they remembered what they jsut did on the last one. Then of course you would have the problem with guests all wanting to go to one type of seat because they don't like one over the other and your lines would be real long for one row and possibly empty in other rows.

The idea is great and I would love to see that. I think there is potential there, but its going to have to stay pretty simple in order for it to work.

One thing people sometimes forget is that B&M designs their standups around the rider's heartline. If they were to produce the same layout for a sitdown coaster, it would be slightly different. I bet the difference would be felt more than seen.

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- Peabody

Hey guys... check these 2 pics for shots of a coaster with 2 train types. (stand-up and sitdown)

http://www.digital-coaster.com/~ft/yom%201.jpg

http://www.digital-coaster.com/~ft/yom2.jpg

Thats at Yomouri Land in Japan... Backnanger (Sp?) at Washuzun Highlands also has this arangement of trains except the sittign trains go backwards.

http://www.digital-coaster.com/~ft/features/stand/back2.jpg

http://www.digital-coaster.com/~ft/features/stand/back1.jpg

Not sure of any others at the moment though.

Easy way to fix the heartline problem is just to elevate the seats on the sit down to approximatly the same as the standup. Shorter people wouldn't be able to get in easy but it would work.

Beastfreak,

Two stations would fix that problem, but the cost of operating a 1 coaster with two stations (extra staff) may not be worth it.

And the bigger question is why? Gwazi would have lightning loading speed compared to anything of this nature. As has been pointed out, you can't use the same station for floorless as for anything else, so you're looking at two stations. Not to mention that you'd need two types of sensors to check restraints. Just seems like an unnecessary hassle.

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http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com

Floorless, definitely, NOT the best choice for this type of operation....but the suspendeds with a Vekoma floorless train and an Arrow suspended train would be cool. I also recall seeing the one that roomraider mentioned (Backnanger, the spelling is that way on the sign) in an ACE mag.

roomraider, long time no hear from...you even got a mention the other day....good to have you back!

just a thought if you had the floorless section of the train was at the same point of all the trains why would it be a problem. just that area would have the retractable floors.it's not like the whole station needs to have the retractable floor section.

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..."so many coasters,so little sick time"....

Ok, assuming that's correct, why have a half-floorless train? There's no benefit to the four rows that aren't floorless.

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http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com

Why would you need two stations to have a floorless train and a stand-up/sit-down train on the same track? When the stand-up/sit-down train would come into the station, the "floor" would stay in the down position, and riders would load/un-load like on a normal stand-up/sit-down coaster. When the floorless train came into the station, the "floor" would raise up and the guests would load/un-load like on a normal floorless coaster.

I assume a simple computer program could figure this sequence out. Let's say that this coaster ran three trains; one floorless, one sit-down, and one stand-up, in that order. That order of floorless - sit-down - stand-up would never change, so the computer would be able to tell which car was the floorless, and which ones weren't. That would solve the problem of stations, but there are more. Like said before, riders heartlines are at different places on different coasters.

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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.

CoasterKrazy said:
I assume a simple computer program could figure this sequence out. Let's say that this coaster ran three trains; one floorless, one sit-down, and one stand-up, in that order. That order of floorless - sit-down - stand-up would never change, so the computer would be able to tell which car was the floorless, and which ones weren't. That would solve the problem of stations, but there are more. Like said before, riders heartlines are at different places on different coasters.

What happens when you have to go to 2 train operation for any number of reasons (bad wheel on one train etc)...then your order of trains would be different, and how do the computer safety systems know which are the 2 trains? Too much a hastle it seems

I have a feeling it wouldn't take the entire basement full of workstations that they have running the impulses to figure out which train was in the station. Probably just one sensor, if that. And if you look around a B&M station, you'll notice that the restraint release mechanism is in essentially the same place for all the different types of cars (save invert, and flying, I'd imagine).

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
You must be this dumb to ride Viper. -SFGAdv.

Chiller1472 said:
Too much a hastle it seems

I agree, If-Then-Else loops are a huge hassle. Please note that last statement is dripping with sarcasm. Computer issues would not be a problem, because it would take 1 minute for a programmer to write an aditional section of programming so the computer knows which train type is where.

It's just like multiple programs on Top Spins or other flat rides. So what if they take off a train? The ride-op just goes to the next program specified for those two trains. They would probably have to shut the ride down and test it again before they allowed people on after the switch, but I think it would be worth it to have a three-in-one coaster.

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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.