PTC Trains (Buzz Bars & other restraints)

---

Sawblade5 said:
Another thing I wondered is that I have seen some pictures of PTC trains in Europe with a T bar style system. I am wondering why we don't see these here in the states.

I have personally ridden PTC with 3 different lapbar systems. 1. A fixed lapbar with bench seating and a single seatbelt on the RollerCoaster at Joyland. 2. The buzzbar style which I last rode on the Racer at Kennywood. and 3. The ratching L Bar systems on most all their coasters like Timber Wolf, Voyage, Gwazi, ETC. You guys can probably guess which one was my favorite of them.

One last thing on my comments about the L bar system. I still see big flaws with the sytem and I am not felling as safe in the L bar system as I do with the Buzzbar system with the flaws I see with them. Some I consider making the problem they ment to be fixed to be worse. I will not go into details there as I don't want anyone tempted to hurt themselves on the flaws.

---

The T bar you see on some European/Japanese coasters is actually an Intamin train.

I think the PTC ratchet bars came out in 1990 with the Georgia Cyclone and Texas Giant. Those are the first coasters I can think that opened with them. Not sure about the Darien Lake Predator...

Of course, the American Eagle at Great America has a much better ratchet L-bar on it's (somewhat Frankenstein-ed) PTC trains. That was done in-house by Great America (also note the return shocks on the otherwise standard PTC ratchet bars of the Viper - great!)

I know there were some incidents with coaster geeks playing with the locking systems as well as using bungee cords to keep them up (and getting snapped!). And of course, simply not putting the bars down very far (and getting away with it).

The coaster community learned alot from those things, I hope. The general public, and 'teens that Six Flags babysits' didn't though.

Ha ha, I was going to look at their website but I am getting this message.

---

This domain has temporarily been disabled.
To restore the domain, contact your Customer Support.

---

I wonder if us coaster nerds hit it with too much traffic. They must have a lousy host if thats the case.

Coaster Comet, Thats a bold and stupid accusation as most people know that if you sit right, You wouldn't come out anyhow. The problem lies in those who would try to Stand in which i've seen a lot more GP do it than enthusiast. I've yet to be at CP when I didn't see someone on magnum or gemini standing on purpose usually in a front seat.

Theres nothing wrong with leaving a bar a inch off your lap. Hell, theres nothing wrong with the bar six inches off your lap like on Skyliner. Just don't do nothing stupid

Chuck, not advocating unsafe riding. I was there. Quite honestly. i've seen no enthusiast do stupid things like stand up although I have seen the lanyard and stuff its more from keeping a bar from ratcheting down further than necessary than to keep it in a high unsafe possition.

People outside the enthusiast community to do stupid things on rides though, its not all about us. I know I have seen some ridiculous crap, and have even yelled at some tweens who were acting stupid on rides.

Exactly. We all want to ride again and want others to do so as well. I've told people to sit down at the risk of getting my ask kicked. I'll gladly trade that for the continuation of someones life.

I'm a pretty skinny person, almost 5'10". I have no problems with the MF restraints, in fact, I love them!

I also don't have the problem with the PTC lap bars crushing my stomach, as the farthest they will go down is about 3 inches from my waist-line. But what I do have a problem with, is when rides like Voyage give you that quick ejector air, and my lap SLAMS into the L-bars! It is very painful, and I think the problem could be solved if they were better padded, and made to go down farther for a better fit on skinnier riders. (I don't know why I said "rides like Voyage," because there are no other rides like Voyage! ;))

The G-trains' restraints do crush my stomach. Airtime is ruined, because when you are thrust forward, there is hardly any padding... OUCH!

I'd like to see what a premier angle lock restraint would be like on a woodie. Maybe with a little more upright seating position.
For me the PTC buzzbars with divider are the best compromise. Ratcheting lapbars are painful unless they have heavy lift springs. MF would be grat if the lapbars didn't fall down.
Seems like any coaster with ejector air is painful unless there is some a little space between me and the lapbar.
One last thing,
Is there something wrong with padding? Seems like most of the older coasters trains (church NAD etc) have/had a lot of padding.

At the post Eastcoaster PTC tour this year, Tom Rebbie said the "open" seat divider came as a result of coaster enthusiasts saying the trains would be more comfortable if there was a space for their hips/legs to go like on desk chairs where your legs can expand under the arm rests (if you are of a larger size). The irony...

I think it is a good idea, just poorly executed. The divider needs to be a soft cushiony material so it doesn't hurt the smaller-framed riders among us (designing a system around overweight coaster enthusiasts is a bad idea. It needs to be comfortable for most riders). It doesn't need to be rigid to be effective. A big pillow would be just as effective at keeping riders from turning.

As for restraints... perhaps individual buzzbars is the answer. They would fit into the existing car shell. They could share a pivoting axel in the middle and have individual lock boxes on both sides of the car instead of just the one lock box currently on cars with buzzbars. They could even ratchet if needed, but just being individual bars would get around the "individual restraint" code.

---

Bartman2 said:
Seems like any coaster with ejector air is painful unless there is some a little space between me and the lapbar.

---

Doesn't it hurt your rear end when you come down on to the seat on a ride like Phoenix? I know it does for me. Not that I am complaining.

---

Bartman2 said:
One last thing, Is there something wrong with padding? Seems like most of the older coasters trains (church NAD etc) have/had a lot of padding.

---

I have a feeling it has to do with maintenance. Typically you see a lot of electrical tape on those old trains holding the padding in place.