SOB Accident at Kings Island

i agree, Barry. The groundwork is being set.

^^ A ride that is made completely with metal moves as one together like a bridge. The common rule of a bridge is a stiff bridge is unreliable to wind storms but a flexible bridge is a bridge that can withstand forces or storms. I wonder what concepts must be taken into consideration when applying wood with metal.

I keep in touch with a dozen or so old enthusiast friends, none of which I would call either fickle or jaded. I think it speaks volumes that not a one of them will bother with Son of Beast anymore. Like Barry, they've given the ride it it's 20th or 30th chance only to find it a constant and consistent disappointment.

With all of this bad press, is SOB's reputation now irreparably damaged among the general public as well? Perhaps that's a hasty conclusion, but still I wonder...

^I have to agree with you, TCKR, about the reputation. It was not great to begin with and combined with this latest accident may spell the end of SOB.

This is a lot of bad PR for the park, sure, but I think it's a bit early to start predicting lawsuits.

I'm in the camp of not ever needing to ride it again. I thought it was a bad idea the day it was announced. There's just nothing to gain by having such a big wood coaster.

I suppose Maureen sure is earning her keep in the eyes of the Cedar Fair brass, that's for sure! I feel bad for her that it has to be for something like this.

Obviously, the track couldn't handle the constant weight/force/speed of the ride. That could explain why the wood splintered. That's why SOB is the only woodie of its kind. Wood coasters have many limits, more than a steel coaster, and apparently RCA tried to build this coaster like a steel coaster.

CoasterDiscern's comments reminded me of the summer we all had discussion here, or somewhere, online, about what constituted a completely "wooden" loop and whether or not PKI was correct in making the statements that they did, in terms of advertising the ride as the "first" of its kind.

As we are all so quick to discuss and dissect any aspect of a completely new ride, as we do every summer when the "BIG NEWS" arrives, this whole thing has caused me to have a major moment of recall about what was one of the primary aspets of our discussion then.

I am much more the literary guy than the engineering guy but it always seemed confusing to me to think that a wooden-constructed loop would EVER be able to handle the stressors and strains, year in and year out, that a rambunctious coaster like SOB would be delivering. The fact that it has some aspect of steel in it (the loop), seemed to negate the aspect that it was a "wooden" loop but I always thought, then, that we were having a "semantics" discussion.

If they want to say "only looping wooden coaster on the planet," then, fine. But, the general consensus always was that this was slightly disingenuous as the GP would think, "Gollleee, that thar loop is made up of wood only."

So many people, way back when, said things like, "How could an almost exclusive wooden-engineered-loop support the coaster without causing some kind of structural damage somewhere. . ." I remember this being a BIG CONCERN in the initial discussions of that coaster. . .

Do others remember the same?

I'm not saying, Jeff, that I am eager for ANYONE to be sued for anything related to coasters or amusement parks. As a decades long supporter of both, I shiver when things like this occur. I'm just saying that when a lawsuit-happy public is handed something like this. . .well, it always means somebody is going to take it in the shorts.

---

FLYINGSCOOTER said:
^Not a bad idea, if it weren't for the fact you can't use treated wood to make a house. However, you could build several hundred decks with it.

---

Then send all that wood West, PGA sure could use a rideable worthwhile woodie for a change. Let GGI or GCI work their magic and design a decent sized woodie to make up for the decades of torture and boredom we've had to suffer out here with Fizzly.

---

---

It says something when we are all in agreement about something.

So where to go from here?

Intamin plug and play track? That might work, but would cost millions. Maybe as much or more than the ride cost in the first place.

This thing had bad written all over it. Nobody in the industry learned with American Eagle, Hurcules, Texas Giant and Mean Streak?

I hurt, in a BAD way, after I rode this thing. Low back pain. And a headache.

I hope Cedar Fair can do something with it. Put on Intamin track or reshape the thing and build a new coaster. The cost of demolition would be immense in itself.

J7G3: It might be costly to demolish. There are alternatives to demolition companies.
They could cut a deal with the Amish. They dismantle and remove the wood and get to keep it.

I actually rode the SOB three times yesterday before the accident. As reported, the ride didn't open until about 1:00 pm. Virtually empty park yesterday, and the most we waited was 15-20 minutes for the back seat. My final ride on the SOB of the day was around 4:25, and the "accident" train came back in at 4:45. I was off eating pizza by then. First two rides were rough as usual, but the third ride was killer. Seriously, the shaking was really out of control on it. Felt like a punch in the gut after I got off the train. I didn't notice any additional discomfort around the loop area where the problem occurred, but it did seem like the ride was running a lot rougher. Anybody else there yesterday?

Someone always brings up that point about retro-fitting the new Intamin plug-n-play track on these problem-plagued megawoodies with the traditional 2x6 layer track system.

From what I remember, it can't be done & most-likely won't be done. Not practical financially nor from an engineering stand-point. They are better off taering the ride down and building an intamin from scratch.

Somebody help me out here. Reports are that the train completed the circuit. But in reports I constantly see things like "caused a train full of passengers to jolt to a halt". And "Witnesses say they saw the roller coaster stop with a "bump," like a car coming to an abrupt stop."

How on earth did it complete the circuit if it "stopped" on a hill? That thing barely has enough speed to clear each hill as it is, let alone if it stopped somewhere along the track.

One of the reports have Maureen saying that the train did return to the station, so it didn't stop anywhere but there.

Well, they could always continue on the way they have been.

I actually keep an on-call chiropracteric service available for when I just HAVE to ride SOB. (Joking!) I've probably done over 100+ rides on it and everytime I think to myself, "Ouch. That's gonna hurt. . ." about some body or other that took more abuse than it should have.

Usually, it was my knees or legs. I never liked how those fit (or didn't) into the train. Talk about a Kneebanger's Affair. . .

The converse of a Headbanger's Ball. . .

I'm assuming that all of the talk about a stopped train originated with the other train which was parked on the lift hill.

*** Edited 7/10/2006 8:54:14 PM UTC by Rihard***

Bah, even with all the bad reports I was still hoping to ride SOB when I visit in 2 weeks. Oh well. I have been on it once before in 2001, and yes I remember it being rough, but I dont remember it being as bad as some people have described it. I remember rides such as the Steel Phantom making a more lasting impact on me, in terms of roughness. Although it probably got worse since 2001. Anyways, I was hoping to get another shot on it, anyone think there is any chance at all of them having it open in 2 weeks?

^There's always a chance they will.

I wanted to ride that as well.

I always wondered how long it would take to do a track-walk on Beast and SOB. I'm thinking like, 2hrs or so.