SOB Accident at Kings Island

To say that Sonny is a maintenance hog is like calling TTD or Ka "tall".

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Marky Mark said:
Beast is too tamed down, here a trim, there a trim, and the over-trimmed block brake section. I'm sure if SOB gets back on-line that CF will be plan for it to be "trimmed to death". They already killed Mean Streak with a first drop trim...A FIRST DROP TRIM!

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You don't know what you're talking about. The Beast has the same net trimming it always has, only instead of long skid brakes, they use short magnetic brakes. You never went through the long shed with skids as fast as you do now.

And Mean Streak is just an uninteresting, crappy ride regardless of the braking situation.

I've never ridden SOB, so I can't really speak from personal experience here. I was always mildly interested to check this thing out, but I have to say that the whole woodie-with-a-loop thing always felt somewhat gimmicky--like that was this coaster's primary reason for existence...and from most reports, the ride overall wasn't all that great.

2000-present is an awful short life-span for a coaster to go from "revolutionary" to "trash-heap", but if ridership had fallen as drmatically as it seems, I'd say there's a big problem here. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut their losses and tore the sucker down.

"but I have to say that the whole woodie-with-a-loop thing always felt somewhat gimmicky--like that was this coaster's primary reason for existence..."

Well, that's because it WAS the coaster's primary reason for existence.

Initially Al Webber wanted a wooden coaster that would manuever a loop. Werner Stengel came on board and pushed for "taller, faster, longer."

Of course those types of stats and promises caused the park's GM and Marketing Team as well as Mr Webber (the king of gimmick rides) to light up. So they went for it.

Many manufacturers turned it down, not because of the loop, but because of the sheer size.

To date, Stengel has never seen SOB in person, let alone ridden.

Shaggy *** Edited 7/12/2006 8:13:53 PM UTC by Shaggy***

^ Yeah somehow he needs to rescue his own reputation from that one!
.... ;)

I wouldn't say Turned it down, OVERBID ON PURPOSE for the sake of not doing it maybe but I don't think anyone refused the job outright.

To be fair to stangel. The trains were way over design weight and didn't have the shock absorbing wheels or chassis shocks it was supposed to have.

Chuck

Charles,

I don't mean to nitpick or get on your case, but didn't Premier rides design the trans for this coaster, or was it Werner Stengel who designed them, and Premier just built the trains for this project to the specs of Werner Stengel?

I could see how many people may have overbid on this job because many companies reputations would be on the line and a ride like this could be a great challenge and money risk for a company of any size, because the project itself was so big.

I for one hope they take there time on this investigation so that people are able to ride and much more safe when and if it reopens. *** Edited 7/12/2006 10:49:59 PM UTC by WoodFan***

What does Premiere have to do with SOB? I thought the coaster was RCCA.
- J

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Jeff said:

You don't know what you're talking about. The Beast has the same net trimming it always has, only instead of long skid brakes, they use short magnetic brakes. You never went through the long shed with skids as fast as you do now.

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All I know, which isn't much, is that there are times when Beast "seems" to be going all out...say the 25th party. Then there are times when it just kinda' "stinks". That's my story and i'm stickin' to it!

And hey, cut me a break, I live in a suburb of Chicago so it's not like I get there every other couple weeks...sheesh *** Edited 7/12/2006 11:29:02 PM UTC by Marky Mark*** *** Edited 7/12/2006 11:29:40 PM UTC by Marky Mark***

RCCA did start the project. The trains were built by Premier as a settlement over OLFOF issues.

The trains as designed were supposed to have shock absorbing wheels on it but that was scrapped. That much was stated in the press releases. I've also been told they were to have shocks between the frame and the chassis much like a Morgan hyper train (This may or may not be true)

I was told that the trains are way overweight for the design of the coaster also. There is steel tubing like a roll cage under all the fiberglass on the train. They are really built strong.

I said to be fair to stengal, Not to rip Stengal.

Chuck

Some more of the info we already have...

http://www.rideaccidents.com/

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Marky Mark said:
And hey, cut me a break, I live in a suburb of Chicago so it's not like I get there every other couple weeks...sheesh

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Well don't make blanket generalizations about a company, or the state of a ride before and after changes, and no one will call you out on it. :)

Shaggy if it happened before, was anyone on the ride at the time?

Beast Fan: I was on the ride the opening weekend when that incident happened. It was on the climb up to the first Helix. It was quite painful and knocked the wind out of me as well as bruised my rib cage area. I never thought about suing anyone, but the minute it happened, I knew something had went terribly wrong.

Charles,

I was not trying to rip on Stengal. I was just trying to find out who built the trains. Thank you for the information. You are always full of knowledge when it comes to coasters.

Thanks

I bet SOB will more popular now than ever just because of this! If it ends up opening back up.

timmyk

Legitimate question:

How much of that wood could be salvaged and used for another project? Could it be torn down, salvaged, and then rebuilt using Intamin's technology?

Piece for piece, there has to be at least a couple Voyages' worth of salvagable lumber left in that ride ;)

So then...are you saying that there was something special about that 25th party...hum...eh ;-)

And you know darn tootin' that Cedar Fail WILL screw up the SOB ride experience with trims. I know you see that. *** Edited 7/13/2006 1:51:03 AM UTC by Marky Mark***

Not if its cracking.

I thought that there was some kind of lawsuite involving the wood that was used.

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WoodFan said:
Charles,

I was not trying to rip on Stengal. I was just trying to find out who built the trains. Thank you for the information. You are always full of knowledge when it comes to coasters.

Thanks

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Premier built the trains.

Sure, but where did that 3rd train go?