Revolution Operations in '76

I have seen this picture before, and it has always fascinated me. There are clearly 5 trains on the track at the same time, and one in the final brakerun before the station. The footnote states that it was taken in 1976, which is believeable by the lack of trees and other rides that currently occupy the surrounding area. I doubt it was the work of photoshop, as computer programs like that didn't exist that long ago. Were there really 6+ trains on the track at the same time? It doesn't even seem feasible because it violates all of the "block" rules.

http://rcdb.com/ig130.htm?picture=16

It probably looks that way because that big photo is composed of many smaller photos. As time went on the train moved through the course so that's why you see it in so many different places at the same time.

Yup. That's a composite of several photos. Don't read too much into it.

*Sigh* To have ridden it then...

I can honestly say that, were Revolution to have no OTSRs, and no butchering, it could very well be my favorite coaster. I was blown away by the *potential* it has, but is lost on trims, otsrs, and poor operations. That coaster in the pic, with the trees it has now? Sweetness.

Revolution has one of my favorite drops, the pre-loop drop. I like long, rampy drops.

Such a shame.

I totally agree. It was an awesome coaster. The cumbersome OTSR's are absolutely ridiculous and not neccesary. A lapbar is all that is needed on that coaster. Just look at Montezuma's Revenge. That even goes upside down 2 times, while Revolution only inverts once. Anyways, yeah, it is obviously multiple pictures. I can't believe I didn't see that before.

In the "good old days" Revolution commonly ran 5 trains. There are plenty of blocks on the ride:

Station
Lift
Block brake prior to loop
Block brake before dip leading to tunnel
Block brake just before helix
Brake run [a least 2 blocks here]

Schwartzkopf is rolling in his grave. Its just fascinating that a ride can operate for over 25 years in one condition (with no problems) then just one day be altered for no apparent reason. I'd boycott Laser at Dorney Park if they ever put OTSR's on it. Does anyone know the exact reason for the OTSR's? It can't be California Law or something like that cause like someone said, Montezuma's Revenge doesn't have OTSR's. The addition of trims doesn't surprise me, every coaster these days are getting those bad boys added to them. **OFF TOPIC** However, Thunderhawk's trim at the top of the 2nd hill has been removed this season. Ha, who would have ever thought? CF...removing a trim. Now we just gotta get rid of the bunny hop trim at the end (the killer!) **BACK ON TOPIC** yeah, revolution? Its a pity.

I was just looking at those pictures and noticed how smooth the transitions look for the time. I mean, this opened in 76. Look at Vortex at PKI which opened mid 80s and how hellish some of those transitions are out of the turns.

Was Arrow on something?

Revolution had Werner Stengel (the same guy responsible for the design of Intamin, most B&M coasters) and Schwarzkopf working on it... recipe for success!

Vortex had Ron Toomer, who didn't even ride his own coasters and always had rough transitions.

Flip side of the coin TeknoScorpion is, if you had ridden it back in the day, you wouldn't be able to find much enjoyment on it today knowing how incredible it once was, and probably still could be. Potential doesn't even begin to describe how awesome it used to be, could probably still rate a top 20 looper today.

Absolutely mind blowing forces and pacing, completely free, open and unobstructed trains, was everything you'd hope for and expect from a classic Swartz. Also don't understand how KBF, HP, SFOT and SFOG can run their classic Swartz loopers from that same time frame as they originally were intended, definitely a tremendous loss for anyone that never got the chance to ride it in all its greatness (kinda how I feel about Thriller/Zonga).

I would love to have ridden it then. It really seems like it was an amazing coaster.:(

I don't know if anyone would agree with me on this opinion. If was want and idea of what Revolution used to be like then you should take a ride on Space Mountain at Disneyland. I think Space Mountain (especially Space Mountain 2K5) feels very similar to the Revolution of yesterday. For though of you that don't know or are in denial, ^_^ Space Mountain is very fast and remarkably smooth with excellent transitions, amazing intensity and believe it or not it is some what heartlined. Other people say that California SCREAMIN' is very similar to the old Revolution, but I don't think that California SCREAMIN' is as intense as Revolution was but it is very close. I never got to ride Revolution completely trim brake free, but it was an excellent coaster before the extreme braking and shoulder harnesses. I really wish Six Flags Magic Mountain would realize what a real gem Revolution can be if it was polished up. Sigh!

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Darth Saambe said:
I was just looking at those pictures and noticed how smooth the transitions look for the time. I mean, this opened in 76. Look at Vortex at PKI which opened mid 80s and how hellish some of those transitions are out of the turns.

Was Arrow on something?

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Arrow certainly doesn't have the best transitions on the market, there's no doubt about that, but they've also never had lapbars on loopers either. With almost any Schwartzkopf thread, there are numerous people complaining about headbanging due to previously non-existant OTSRs. For the reverse effect, look at the Premier LIM launchers; practically unrideable with OTSR, but incredible coasters with lapbars.

There's no excuse for the lackluster transitions Arrow was known for, but given new trains with lapbars, I'd imagine they'd become more popular, as Shcwartzkopf coasters with OTSR become less popular.

"That guy must've been drunk while he was designing this coaster" -Me while riding Anaconda at PKD. :)

That is an interesting thought CoasterKrazy. Arrow loopers with lapbars would probably still be jerky but probably not as painful with lapbars.

TeknoScorpion, I'm the exact same way with those long, rampy drops. I've often caught myself dreaming about the drop on Beast after the second lift while driving down long rampy roads. Probably not entirely a safe thing. :)

As someone already mentioned, the picture is wrong since it was spliced together. There's no way there would be a train in the first drop and second drop at the same time. Otherwise, it's pretty accurate. I definitely remember five train operations.

And I think I remember the station was originally setup to load two trains at a time -- one behind the other, similar to how space mountain used to load. There was a chain lift mechanism in the station that coordinated with the main lift chain. When you left the station, it was a seamless motion out of the station and up the lift hill (not the standard roll forward, stall, catch the lift, and then jerk forward).

As to why they put in the OTSR, it's because people were standing up on the thing. With Schwartzkopf lapbars, it is very easy to leave enough slack to squeeze out of the thing. Heck , on the original PGA Tidal Wave, it was not uncommon for the lapbars to just pop open midway through the ride. I know the Schwartzkopf seats are tight, but it still seems like they could have found a new, better, lapbar mechanism instead of OTSRs.

Is everyone so sure that it was spliced? Yeah if you look closely it seems that there are quite a few block brakes on this ride. I also counted 5 trains, but the deal is that inbetween each one, is possibly a block brake. It is hard to exactly tell in the picture, but I think it is very possible that they ran that many trains.

If you want take a look at the links for specifications about Revolution and schwarzkopf looping speed racer. It appears that they were designed to run 4 to 6 trains, so I think Revolution back in the day ran that many. Not sure how many they run now, but probably with more conservative blocking systems, and more sophisticated control systems with PLC's, they run 3. Also the popularity of the ride, with all the other rides does not justify running more than 3 trains. And this is Six Flags, they seem to minimize the amount of trains they used, to meet the popularity of the ride and size of line.

http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/OKloopingracer-launchingracerGF.htm

http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/ESrevolutionGF.htm

Before the lack of multi-train operations at Six Flags Magic Mountain I would see Revolution running four trains on very busy summer days. I would say that was up until 1999 or 2000. I was actually surpised it could do that, but if you notice the brake is (as it is with most Schwarzkopfs) extra long and can hold about three or four trains if it needed too.