Rolling Thunder Is Getting Painted !!!!!!!

I was at SFGAdv today and I noticed Rolling Thunders station and lift are painted as well as the turn before the lift. The right side also had the drop painted. The railings that used to be red up the lift are now pure white also. Hopefully after they finish white the red will be put on. Its not perfect though because if you look close some boards were missed but its a start. The coaster was even operating so I guess it was painted early in the week. They are even painting the rails the train rides on white. The right side of it was closed as was Batman The Chiller and Viper and the park was VERY crowded but I thought I would spread the news.

That's just great. They're painting the ride. I'm so excited. NOW, can they just stop making it squeal? That's why we didn't bother with it the other night. I rode it in its "glory", and thought it was much better than Scream Machine when it was new (back in the day when it didn't beat your head to a bloody pulp.
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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!

The reason for this is probably because that area is going to get a lot of attention next year with Superman in the general area; they want it to look good.

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SFNE Central- Online Six Flags New England Resource
http://sfne.licensetothrill.net
Devoted Intamin Lover for Life!

Listen the paint job on that is the least of that ride's worries. I visited back in August and on a busy day with one train on one side operating. Even more disapointing was how bad a ride it was! Slow and jarring. However this ride looks like with some TLC hopefully it can be brought back to what it once was. If they can re-track that beast and actually race it- then they can worry about paint.....

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"Enjoy your voyage to the sun on the wings of Apollo's Chariot"

Everyone knocks that ride.

Maybe I just had good luck, but I had a great ride on it last year. It was the only time i rode it, and it was pouring rain. Maybe the fact that i couldn't see anything and the squealing and jarring made me think i was going to die added something to the excitement level.

Regardless, i'm glad it's at least getting a paint job - that thing looked disgusting this year. I wouldn't like them to tear it down or anything, but SFGAdv does need a nice GG or Intamin woodie. Oh well, maybe soon. At least i don't have to drive to GA to ride a B&M flyer anymore.

~me

The ride was running great most of the season. They are rehabbing the trains and retracking. As for the paint job, relax, its only the primer. Hopefully we will be getting 2 new rides next season. :)

SFNE is right. They don't want their ride looking like a POS for media day. Why would they be painting it so early though? Knotts did the same thing for Xcelerator. Montezummas Revenge, the sky cabin, and Perilous Plunge all got (unneccesary IMO) paintjobs.

nelson324:

Rolling Thunder is vastly better in the rain than the dry. This is probably because of the complete lack of lubrication on the track. The train lubricates things a bit and suddenly the ridc is completely different. Of all the woodies that I've ridden in the wet, RT picks up the most. It goes from barely able to get around to pretty decent.

It is about friggen' time it got token care of! It was in a very sad state when I rode it this summer.

I just was there to that yesterday and I was about to post a topic about it. It looks a lot better!! Also it was open yesterday and I rode it and it is the roughest it hasd been all season. It looked like the red train got painted but but the green was nowhere in sight.

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-Sean

*** This post was edited by SFgadvMAN on 10/27/2002. ***

The reason they're starting painting so early is because there's a ton of lumber they need to paint. Didn't you ever look at that structure?

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-Kyle Brylczyk
KoRn - Untouchables

Remember also that most paints don't work well in cold weather. You generally want to avoid painting outdoors in the winter.

*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher on 10/27/2002. ***

The ride is good. As of now it is going under some intense rehab, as you can cleary tell. We should be lucky it is even open, if it was my motive, I would have it closed.Period. Im sure once they finish repaiting/retracking, the ride will run better, but I met a guy who was into coaster aswell while rideing RollingThunder, and he told me it really isent the ride that runs rough,but the 70's trains! (he told me they had the same type of trains on it back he rode it when it first opened ) he dose have a point, too bad they wont get it new trains. I like the left side of RT better then the right side however I remember when they retracked a turn in the beging of 02 season on the right side it wasent hitting the turn as hard as it did int he past,and it made the ride less intense,but last time I rode the left side it is becoming rough in that turn again.Oh well at least they tried. Maybe they are painting the parts they already retracked, or maybe they are just painting over the rails ,becuase they are going ot remove them and put some new pairs on?

Well heavens to Betsy!! I did see some pigs flying this morning.

Age of trains has little to do with how a coaster rides. Especially if the trains are well maintained, though wooden framed trains do require more maintenace. RT's trains have steel frames. I've ridden many trains over 50 years old that were just fine.