Retrieving valleyed coasters

http://frank.drnk.net/gallery/?gal=sfb&img=IMG_0531.jpg

This photo was made while employees of Six Flags Belgium where recovering the train of Loup Garou in which I valleyed earlier that day. They divided the train in two parts, and hand-whinched both parts through the high turn, and then pushed them through the rest of the track into the station. This took them about 20 hours, they had to work on all night.

-----------------
Dutch Coastin' :: European coasters, thrills and theming!

Thanks aus....

DRNK, good pic! I'll even spare the comments about "Vekoma Valley"....I guess they've advanced beyond valleying DV's, huh?

The coaster actually valleyed on an enthusiast-day because Six Flags wanted to ride with two trains at all cost, even though the wheels of the stalled train where in a non-operatable state. ;)

I even got a movie of the ride being pushed through a high turn by Six Flags employees..

-----------------
Dutch Coastin' :: European coasters, thrills and theming!

again i ask, how do you recover a vallied inverted coaster?

-----------------
Nemesis Inferno - The Pressure is Building!
Rare RollerCoaster Resources - http://clik.to/rrcr

laurence, I'm not positive, but they probably remove the downstop wheels and use a crane just the same as any other coaster.

laurence, i think they take apart the couplings, take off the road wheels, and use a crane.

-----------------
Mike T.
Fly with the man of steel in 2003!

coasterfreak, if it is done the way you said, wouldnt the track be in a severe risk of being damaged by the crane/chain/train?

RCT_MASTER, if its done your way, wouldnt the train fall and hit the ground below when the running wheels were taken off?

the mystery remains!

-----------------
Nemesis Inferno - The Pressure is Building!
Rare RollerCoaster Resources - http://clik.to/rrcr

If you take the upstops off a Inverted coaster the train will just sit there,where as a normal coaster you can take the upstops off, and lift the train up, you cant do so on an inverted. And i dont think removing the road wheels on an inverted coaster would really be safe to do, the train would fall down, unless you somehow secure it to the track, which really couldnt be done.

-----------------
So you believe that you are studying us, then kindly explain why you are the ones trapped in your seats.

Well laurence you raise an interesting point. I suppose it depends what type of valley it's in...is it steep?, is it very close to another part of the track?...I would say that each situation on a valley'd inverted is unique and could call for any number of ways to fix it. It may not be practical to disassemble the train, but rather winch it around. I can't really offer a good answer for you either. But if they do use the method I mentioned above, then they could pad the track or trains with protective blankets to save it from the cables, equipment or whatever.

However you un-valley an invert I'm sure SFoG, SFGAm, and SFMM are pretty familiar with the procedure. ;)

-----------------
SFNE Central- Online Six Flags New England Resource
Devoted Intamin Lover for Life!

Yeah i was getting ready to say the same thing "SFNE freak" Just ask how they got Deja Vu back out. Although I'm not sure where Deja Vu valleyed, i think it was the cobra roll most the time, in which case they should be able to pull it somehow back down the cobra roll into the station.

-----------------
So you believe that you are studying us, then kindly explain why you are the ones trapped in your seats.

MooreOn said:
Eh, John (or maybe I should say "Freud"), ...I think the word you're looking for is *winch*

Well, somebody's an English major pain in the butt!

But, yeah, you're right I guess I slipped.

Anyway, you're right, I spelled "winch" as "wench" and didn't realize it until you pointed it out. Going back and re-reading my first post and subsequent responses to it make it all the more funnier...

-----------------

*** This post was edited by Michael Darling on 1/21/2003. ***

Michael Darling said:
"*gasp* You mean the engineers of the rides actually thought about fully stopped trains making it through the course after a block violation or setup? OH MY GOD! They're so smart!"

I asked because I've been on Riddler's when it *didn't* stop at the mid-course brakes, yet it seemed to really struggle getting over a couple of the hills. I assume that most will make it just fine, but I was curious if there were any situations where it wouldn't, and Riddler's was my example because I'm familiar with the coaster and because of my expeience on it.

Anyway, thanks all, I had no idea that they would generally lift it off after removing the upstops, I had always assumed some sort of winching, but that could be incredibly difficult, I would imagine. Here's hoping X doesn't valley when I go on Feb 2nd, I'd rather not have to sit and watch them remove a train from the tracks while I could be riding the thing!