The life of a pre-dawn mechanic on Alpengeist

Beeman65 said: Why would you shadow him if you aren't being trained or anything? Seems to me like a distraction.

- Well, it would of course be a distraction to him. But I have people shadow me all the time who aren't necessarily going to be doing what I am doing. If you are interested in something I don't see anything wrong with trying to learn more about it. What better way to do so than to observe?

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"That's DOCTOR Evil. I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mr. Thank You Very Much.'"

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Why would you shadow him if you aren't being trained or anything?

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Ummm.... probably so he could write the story for the paper. Otherwise he'd have to make it all up and sell it to the NYTimes.

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Rejection is one thing, but rejection from a fool is cruel!
-Morrissey

At Rotary Playland in Fresno CA. (a kiddie park with a classic "Rock-O-Plane" wheel) our two maintence guys come in at least 3 hours before we open to inspect and test our 8 rides, then I test them. Your admission price to parks covers a lot of people including ride op's and lot's of mechanics and maintience people. It's common for major coasters to be inspected prior to sunrise before park opening. Busch parks have some of the best safety records in the industry. Not often you hear of accidents at their parks in Williamsburg VA; Tampa FL; and the Sea World parks. Safety at all parks should be priority one!

I am glad to know that Busch goes out of its way for safety! Alphengeist is my favorite coaster and I feel evern better knowing that it is 100% safe!! And since it is so well taken care of it will be around for a long time to come!!

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

Well written and informative. I doubt every park does such a thorough inspection of every ride... *cough* 6 flags *cough*. I think we all have been on an inverted coaster with a bumpy and rough ride due to worn wheels...or ridden a wooden coaster with shot wheel bearings squeaking loudly...(Mind Eraser and Cyclone @ SFNE come to mind)

I've not yet had the pleasure of visiting BGW and riding Apengeist. However, I have been to BGT and had many rides on Montu, which is my favourite inverted coaster. As my friend and I disembarked that ride for the first time, we looked at each other and said the same thing:

"It's so smooth!"

I'm guessing that's no coincidence if the inspection/maintenance schedule is as extensive at BGT as it is at BGW.

That said, I do remember Kumba making a right racket and being quite rough. Great layout though. It may have been the case that, as it was late in the season, the ride just needed more TLC than it is possible to administer during routine inspections.