Ride Collapses in Sweden

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RCMAC said:

(My other fear is that the Roundup will come loose from it's post and go rolling down the midway like a wagon wheel with me in it. OK, weird, I know...)

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I had that same feeling once at Conneaut. Coming from a 'steel worker' family, 3 generations, i learned a lot about metal fatigue...

My dad works on utility trucks (the ones you see with a guy in the air working around phone, cable & power lines), and he was VERY interested in why this ride failed. I also read something about a bearing grenading apart.

I feel that it is a relatively average year for the accidents. It seems like I've heard that "this year seems to be worse than in years past" every year. And it sure doesn't seem more than last year or more than the last few years.

My wishes go out to all involved.

Interesting to look at the fears on this thread.

Round-Up coming off and rolling down the midway:

There is a bulletin which applies to Round-Up and Paratrooper main shafts built by Hrubetz, Man-Co and Kilinski. The original shaft design was such that the shaft would crack and break at the welds on a sleeve applied to the hub. Dartron redesigned the shaft and eliminated the problem welds, but on a ride with the old style hub, an annual inspection is required to keep the shaft from breaking, which could cause the gondola to come off and roll down the midway.

Of course, we had this same thing happen to a Chance Chaos some years ago, not because of a failure of the main shaft, but because the bolts that attached the gondola to the main bearing failed.

Door coming open on a Zipper:

Apparently that happened a few times on the earliest Zippers, and the result was a redesign of the door latching mechanism. All the Zippers now in service have the new latch arrangement, and I am not aware of any failures of that mechanism.

Oh, and OlympicParkFan talked about an incident where a Round-Up shaft broke, but was unaware of other incidents. I don't know where it happened, but somewhere there was a Round-Up on which the safety chain was missing or was too long. The safety chain is attached to the main boom and attaches to a lever on the hydraulic valve on the lifting cylinder, and its function is to prevent the lifting cylinder from over-extending on either a Round-Up or a Paratrooper. If the cylinder over-extends and allows the boom to rise to a vertical position, it's possible not only that the ride won't come down under its own weight, but that the cylinder will bend so that the ride *can't* come down. That's happened at least once.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I wish you didn't know so much, RideMan. You just scared me off of Round-Ups for a long time.

Quit scaring me!!!!!

A Roundup breaking free from its shaft would be one of the most spectacular ride disasters ever ("spectacular" used here in the grisly, morbid, train wreck sense).

I used to dream that the Zodiac at Kings Island would lose one of its wheels while in the elevated position.

*** Edited 7/17/2008 2:53:50 AM UTC by Ensign Smith***

Funny how we all love these rides, yet we have these deep fears inside us about the very things we love the most.

Anyone else get the supreme case of willies I got while watching Final Destination 3's opening coaster crash? Even while I was sitting there going, "Okay, THAT could not happen in addition to THAT and THAT when the ride was just in perfect operating condition for the train before it" I was still a little unnerved. I couldn't sit still during that scene I was so disturbed.

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bunky666 said:
Funny how we all love these rides, yet we have these deep fears inside us about the very things we love the most.

Anyone else get the supreme case of willies I got while watching Final Destination 3's opening coaster crash?

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Bunky, I think you hit the nail dead on. It's that fear that keeps us safe. Then again, it is also that fear that helps raise our awareness and can make that endorphin rush that much more fun.

I used to have nightmares about round-ups rolling away all the time. I thought it was just irrational childhood fear. Guess it was rational after all. ;)

Mamoosh is right. In the past, parks would do anything to minimize publicity which was mostly local. Now with youtube and coasterbuzz, accidents spread instantaniously and worldwide!

The day a coaster tests - or opens - we have video of the event! (amazing).

CP's Wildcat accident seemed to take a few days before it really broke (the story, not the ride).

And here I pictured Roundups just floating off spinning in the air like those pne of those whirly-gig things. :)

Ugh, the Rainbow at SFKK has been shut down because of this accident.

The ride will have to be inspected from top to bottom "if" it is to reopen.

(Prepare for a rant about the lack of flat rides at SFKK very soon...)

It's a knee-jerk reaction. Given what's been going down at SF recently, I don't blame them.

I think it is smart press for SF to close the ride. You see this happen somewhere, and you need to take proactive steps to prevent a similar incident. Especially in light of what happened at KK last year. Had they been doing thorough inspections like this last year, the press might not be so bad for them now, but it sounds like they're finally getting smart and doing the right thing. Good for them!

Anyone have any updates on the Rainbow ride in Sweden. I was looking for them and couldn't find anything else.

All of the Rainbows are closed pending investigation by Huss. After they figure out what the problem was, they will instruct the parks to inspect or fix whatever the problem was before they reopen. For some reason the Kentucky Kingdom closure made the news.

It's a standard procedure after there is a major malfunction on a ride.

You're right. But it's not just rides, it's thing like utility trucks as well.

The Six Flags one probably made the news because people just jumped to the conclusion that there was something wrong with it rather than the fact that it was SOP.

I didn't know these Rainbow rides even still existed. I've seen the similar 1001 Nacht things everywhere. Are they by the same company or different ones?

Anyone remember the Hershey covered wagon version? That thing was great.

Rainbow is Huss, and 1001 Nachts can be found by various manufacturers and different sizes. The one at Knoebel's and the one at Geauga (converted to Eldorado) were the same, I believe Weber.

I was crushed when Hershey removed the covered wagon. (Conestoga?) It was one of my all time favorite Rainbow rides. (It was a Huss Rainbow with a custom cabin themed to a covered wagon. The riders faced inward toward each other rather than bleacher style. The restraints and seats seemed lifted directly fom the Pirate.) I loved it.

Slowly disappearing are the Falling Stars made by Chance. Best ever was the Banshee at Holiday World. Fast, fast, fast. Rush Street Flyer at SF St Louis is lame. The one at Mall of America was ok. Carowinds used to have a decent one. Is it still there as part of Nickelodeon? Oh yeah, there's the one at Indiana Beach, too. Ok, well, maybe they aren't disappearing as fast as I thought!