One dead, ten injured on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain
Posted
A locomotive broke loose from a train on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster Friday, killing a man and injuring 10 other riders, officials said. The man died inside a tunnel section of the ride, and his body remained there for the investigation.
Read more from AP via CBS News.
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Without knowing the details of the impact (the man was clearly out of the train), there is no way to know whether someone else might have survived the accident...he may not have been "thrown" from the train, but he also was not inside the car in that tunnel...
Not sure that's true. Details we're getting here on the local LA news, from the police and others involved, is no one was thrown or otherwise forced out of the car. Not even the fatality, and that one of the reasons the body was left there (several hours) was that in addition to being deceased they also had to work quite a while to extricate him from the car. But they said fairly clearly that he was in the car still. There is some confusion, however, as to which seat in the car he may have been in, though that may be coming from Disney who hasn't been allowed access to the scene yet while the police, fire and OSHA still work on their investigations.
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Sometimes it's up. Sometimes it's down.
But with God, life is one thrill ride that you'll never regret being on.
1)One of the wheel assemblies broke loose on the locomotive part of the train, and the train either skewed on the track, voilently stopping the train, or:
2) There was some sort of mechanism on the locomotive where if it happened to disconnect during the run, then the ride would malfunction, or come to a jarring stop.
I do have the deepest sympathy for the person who died while riding. I have been through a traumatic time involving a ride, and I know how hard it is to get over it. Only time will be the answer. I will be keeping him in my prayers.
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SOB crew in 2002
TRTR crew in 2003
.....Yeah, I think that smoke is supposed to be there.....
where it broke down. I was just at Disneyland last year,
(which may not sound recent, but for us Utah folk, it is.) and
I can't imagine anything happening on that ride. It is a fairly
tame ride, wouldn't you agree? I am still in shock that this
happened. I first read about this at Screamscape.com and didn't
believe it. I still can't. My prayers are with the family and
anyone who was directly affected by this tradgedy.
"What? An accident at Disneyland?"
That said...the rides in the park will still be much safer than the ride to the park (in your car).
My thoughts to the families affected by this tragedy.
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--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
May the Schwarz be with you.
Consider how many coasters operate on a daily basis, multiply that by riders per day...and think of that in terms of a coaster such as this one that operates year round when it's not down for an occasional rehab or needed maintenance (I'll let you figure, I'm not good at math. . .).
You are at much more of a risk in the car on the highway on your way to or from the park. (or by falling down a flight of stairs, or by being struck my lightning)
I think what makes it sensational and tragic is that it was all in the act of 'having fun'. Especially at a Disney park where safety and security are an innate part of the experience. As for Disney skirting the issue of safety, it would surprise me if that was the case. My experience working for a Disney park (unless it has changed in the last few years) was all about guest safety and proper procedures.
Although accidents of this nature seem to sell more newspapers, we shouldn't fear them happening any more than we would fear any other form of danger by merely living life from day to day.
I do hope in this case, it wasn't negligence. I guess it's early to know exactly what went wrong.
My heart goes out to those involved, as this was a terrible thing to happen.
(it goes out as well, to those involved in the car accident I passed on the way home from work last night)
Let's keep it in perspective
(just my 2 cents)
-Mark
*** This post was edited by CoasterboyNYC 9/6/2003 2:28:52 PM ***
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-disney6sep06,1,1571666.story?coll=la-home-leftrail
The story says that the engine derailed at the top of a lift (they don't say which one) and then became decoupled from the cars which then rolled back down the incline. The person killed was in the first car. There is no indication of impact with the other train so possibly whatever failure occured was forceful enough to derail the engine and kill the person in the car directly behind, perhaps an injury similar to what occured on the Rivers of America a couple of years ago.
Of course this is complete speculation on my part but my interest comes from the fact that my wife, myself and our 5 year old rode BTMRR twice on Thursday the 4th - the second time we rode in the first car. Riding in the first car was much more jolting than the middle where we rode the first time and my wife commented about this when the ride was over and wondered what would happen if the cars broke loose from the engine. I of course assured her this would most likely never happen.
If the engine 'broke loose' early in the ride, that would mean that if the train crested the lift, the engine would go down the hill first, while the rest of the train crested. If so, it is quite possible that the engine would have gone up the second hill and probably not have had enough momentum to crest the second hill (due to the lack of weight and momentum) and then would have gone back down and collided with the train at high speed. Remember, the max speed of the ride (I believe) is about 30 mph, but, if you have a different part of the train coming at you at just 20 mph, that it is a total combine effect of 50mph. A 50mph collision is definitely catastraphoic.
Granted, this is obviously speculation, but would explain the damage reports.
My prayers and condolences for all those involved in this tragic situation.
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I really enjoy the Simpsons. It's just a shame that I am starting to LOOK like Homer.
I rode the WDW version in July and it was MUCH more violent than I fondly remember. That's exactly what I thought about when i heard of this accident, the turbulence and speed of that last ride I took on it. Granted, they're both different rides of course.
I don't post very much anymore but I needed to mention a few things on this...
Somebody asked if the WDW version had the "engines" on the front. You are correct in that they are in fact removed (the smoke stacks) and have been for at least a year. This was because of safety "issues". I would have expected them to return after it's current rehab but who knows now. They did look VERY odd without them.
I also saw mention of how nice it was for Eisner and Rasulo to be there. Well, not really. They were already checked into the GCH before the accident for the ABC preview weekend at DCA. In fact, I found it gutless and cruel that Eisner used this incident to promote himself. Pathetic and yet another example of why things are going the way they are for Disney. Check miceage for more info.
Also, both rides were made by Vekoma. If the WDW version was running, I'm sure it would have been shut down pending the investigation for just that reason alone.
Personally, I feel the injurys were so bad because the fake decorations on the train came apart during the accident and hit the riders. These ornaments were not designed to handle impacts like this. It makes you wonder why the chains didn't keep things together(as somebody already mentioned) and if the anti-rollbacks failed.
They are all in my prayers. I also pray that Disney finally learned thier lesson. To have your total number of mechanics go down while adding another entire park for them to maintain, something like this will happen.
I'd like to know where you got that statistic?
This is tragic on so many terrible levels. Condolances to the friends and families.
I worry about the implications for Disneyland... there's been so many problems, this isn't going to help them at all.
I think the train somehow derailed inside the tunnel and never even made it to the lift. A story in the Orange County Register stated that a witness said they saw broken track How this could possibly occur I don't know. Maybe some rock work from the ceiling fell on the track. That happened on Knott's log ride many years ago and stopped a log cold, right at the bottom of the big final drop. So it's not out of question, though I'd say it is unlikely. Then again, I always thought any big accident at all on this ride was unlikely. It will be interesting to learn what actually happened as it's just so unbelivable that it could happen.
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