Top Thrill 2 train, up close

At least they had the foresight to put an elevator stop and small platform up there. That will give the maintenance guy a good place to stand while he puts the rear car back on the track

Unfortunately for him, that's a ladder and not an elevator. Maybe they'll just staff a maintenance guy there full time.

With the perfect 90° angle of the spike, normally I'd assume that if the train went off the end it would just fall straight back down and rejoin the track and continue the rest of the ride, but RCT has proven that the cars will separate and all of them will erupt in a fiery explosion as soon as they touch the end of the track.

Relatedly, they've announced the preview event details:

https://www.cedarpoint.com/...iew-events

I'll be there on Thursday if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise.

I also find the apparent lack of a stopper a bit unnerving. Given how catastrophic an overshoot would be, I wonder if there is some other physical limitation that prevents this kind of accident. Maybe only a certain number of motors are wired to fire during the backward launch? Even if that were the case, though, if these fired after a 120 MPH rollback down the original tower, I don’t see how a train wouldn’t go over the edge.

This got me wondering, coasters are tested to make sure they work, but are they also tested to make sure they don’t fail? In other words, do they try to force failure to make sure safety systems actually do what they’re supposed to? For instance, during testing do they purposefully try to send out a train when the next block isn’t clear? Or with restraints open? Or cut power to the transfer track and try to send out a train without the track being in place?

Back when I worked as a ride operator, we checked the blocks daily.

TylerWS:

if these fired after a 120 MPH rollback down the original tower, I don’t see how a train wouldn’t go over the edge.

I think what's at play here is a lack of understanding of how the ride system functions.

Which is OK. That's part of the fun in getting under your skin and inducing some uneasiness.

Let me give a simpler example. There are a lot of people who are deathly afraid of roller coasters (and this will sound silly to probably everyone here) because they have no idea that there are three sets of wheels (top, side, and bottom of track) on a coaster car. They think it's literally a train riding on a track. Same folks also don't know that there is a chain-dog to prevent a train from rolling back a typical lift-hill. Same people also think that restraint can just "pop up" mid-ride because they can't see how it works.

Back to the original point. Just because one can't see the redundancy (or understand how it's possible) doesn't mean it's not there.

Maybe that's my hang up. 99% of those that get on these rides don't even think about it, but since it's my niche hobby I know how all of those other things work on rides and would not ride them if those measures were not in place. I would never get on a ride running two trains if there was no blocking system (ok, I suppose I did when I rode Phoenix at Knoebels. But it was on the way). I would never get on a ride where a restraint failure would lead to instant ejection if I didn't know how the restraints worked. I would never board a ride where the guide wheels were knowingly not there.

None of us can figure this one out yet. And that doesn't happen often.

OhioStater:

because they have no idea that there are three sets of wheels (top, side, and bottom of track)

Leap The Dips would like a word.

I'm surprised that they don't have seatbelts on the trains. I know that they aren't required if a certain number of redundancies are met, but the same applies to B&M hyper trains and Cedar Fair has installed seat belts on all of theirs.

Shush.

I would bet that we see both seat belts and a bumper on the spike by next season.

My understanding of LSM launches is that the alternating magnetic currents need to be incredibly precise in order to achieve a launch. You need to create the correct polarity in order to push/pull forward, and then immediately alternate as the train advances so that you don't pull/push backwards. If you're ever played with those wooden train sets (as my toddler adores) you've probably tested how far apart the magnets can be for the trains to move by themselves. ALL that is to say, if the LSMs are in "launch 3" mode (i.e. pushing it up and over the top hat) and the train doesn't make it over, the train will be rolling back into LSMs which are going to slow it down. I imagine the programming would put them into a stable braking mode just in case of a roll back anyways, but even if that also failed to trigger, the polarities would be all wrong to further propel a train backwards towards the back spike.

The other thing, is friction. I don't think a train failing to crest the 420ft top hat would have enough momentum to clear the 420ft spike at all. The second hill on Steel Dragon 2000 (there's a lot of assumptions here, but bare with me) is 50ft shorter than the first 308ft hill, and those are immediately after each other without a 600-700ft straight section between them. So even if the LSMs plainly stopped working altogether, the train would just valley, eventually.

For me, personally, the most unnerving part of TT2 is traversing over a switch track multiple times per cycle at 100+ mph. Is there a comparable switch track at that speed elsewhere?

Aren’t LSM’s brakes by default when no power is applied?

jonnytips:

For me, personally, the most unnerving part of TT2 is traversing over a switch track multiple times per cycle at 100+ mph. Is there a comparable switch track at that speed elsewhere?

I've also thought about this one, even though I know it shouldn't be possible. You never know what minor mechanical failure could happen that could lead to some sort of catastrophic failure. I'm guessing Pantheon at BGW might be the closest comparable.

That one I could probably explain. If I had to guess, there's a mechanical interlock that, when not engaged, prevents the circuits to the LSM's to engage. The only thing similar that I've seen is Icebreaker, but I didn't think to look very hard at the time, so I don't know how that works.

I recall that radio transmitters, with their extremely high voltage, have these kinds of interlocks on the doors, so if you open it up, it can't operate.

While this is the fastest yet, high-speed switch tracks aren’t new. Pantheon and Toutalis both have them.

And now we know which seat gives the best ejector air.

https://twitter.com/cpcoast...SnNBhztm6Q

That's, uh, not a good look given the whole history of the original ride.