Trim Brakes and Sickness

1st)
I visited Kings Island and Cedar Point and I have started to get headaches now I am back in the UK I went on all the coasters at least twice, Mantis I went on 3 times in a row and Outer Limits (what a head rush that was I felt like I had been beaten around the head by a baseball its so rough) anyway I want to know if anyone has had any problems when they visit 2 parks within 1 week and go on the highest fastest and longest coasters on the planet

2nd)Why was the "trim brake" invented..? These should only be used when the train comes into the station on during the ride I went on "Mean Streak"(should be renamed very trimmed and slow streak) and it got slowed down so much that it only managed to get round the turns really slowly this takes the fun out of the rides and if the park needs to "trim" a coaster then it should not be built as it cannot handle all the shaking that the train produce I also went on Voltex at PKI and this was "Trimmed" 1/2 way and it nearly stopped going through the corkscrew. I went on the "Beast" and it was not slowed down the 1st drop it was only when it gets to the long straight bit after the 2nd drop that that the "trims" were applied, but this did not stop the train from picking up top speed again and flying through the tunnells and 540 degree helex this was the best ride I have ever been on and at night it was amazing, shame about being "trimmed" along the straight bit. i wonder if they can turn the train "backwards" and ask people to ride it to see what that is like going around the Helix "backwards".
As for the Son of Beast It was really vibrating my fingers andmy head going round the sharp turns
Maybe I should not be so hard on the ride as it is still new and needs to be broken in they were running only 1 train the Q was over 1 hour which was a joke, if they need to brake the ride in then why don't they have 3 trains on the track
In a few of your posts you have asked "why have trims?". Well, take Vortex for example, having the trims halfway through allows for much, much faster capacticty (assuming the ride ops know what they are doing). Once the first train has crossed the trims then the second is able to free itself from the chain lift. Therefore, if there is a rollback the train behind it can be stopped either at the mid course brakes or on the chainlift. I agree with you about the trims being too strong on Mean Streak, but I never really liked the ride beforehand when they werent as strong.

Overall, I'm not against `em because they allow for much faster moving lines.

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Columbus, OH - The roller coaster epicenter of the world.
I think you are confusing trim bakes with block brakes. A coaster has block breaks so that two trains can be on the track at the same time. A block brake does not have to be on during normal operations, only if something goes wrong and a train has to be stopped before it reaches the station (or the next block break). Trim brakes are used to slow the train down, usually because the ride is too intense (two many G’s), is too rough, or is tearing the track apart. Ideally, a perfectly designed and maintained coaster would not need trims.
Cobra roll, I take you haven't done Orlando in a week then? IOA, Kraken at Sea World, Busch Gardens (Montu 7 times, Kumba 10) etc (with no queues)! And guess what.... no headaches!!!

About the trims, RMP is right about the confusion but WHY has Montu had trims added??? Why oh why.......! Stupid move! A bit like putting on Mean Streak: re-name the ride!
OK.

Block brakes-Usually known as the "midcourse" There is always a walkway of some sort that you could easily walk off the train if you stopped there. These are used so that three trains can operate. They are always on a straightaway Once a train passes through the block brakes, the next one can disengage off the lift.(i.e. straightaway on Raptor, straightaway on Batman Knight Flight)

Trim brakes-Usually directly before an inversion, or a high intensity element. No way of getting off the train if the train made a complete stop on them. Used to slow the train down slightly so the intensity isn't too high.(i.e. Mantis' first drop, Montu before batwing)
I was at Great Adventure yesterday, and on Scream Machine, it uses a block brake...and oh does it ruin the ride completely...We almost came to a complete stop! It was rediculous. Yet, when on Medusa, there is only a short set of trim breaks mid-course, and it barely even slows it down.

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CP's Overrated
Sorry about that everyone. I was a bit confused with Cobra Rolls reference to Vortex which I don't think has any trims, just midcourse brakes.

Sorry bout' the misunderstanding.
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Columbus, OH - The roller coaster epicenter of the world.
The Vortex does the same thing as the Scream Machine, yet I thought it was really cool how you fell out of your seat on the corkscrews. People who were not expecting that experance supplied the rest of us with plenty of four letter words.

I took the ULTIMATE HEADBANGING VACATION.
King's Island - Vortex 9 times two days
King Cobra 11 times two days
OL:FOF 3 times two days
Beast and Son of Beast 2 times1day
Cedar Point - Nothing to really bang you head on
Kennywood - Steel Phantom 5 times in one day
Plus all the woodies three times each
Hershey Park - Wildcat (Not really a headbanger but it beats you up a bit) Five times in one preveiw plan
Bush Gardens - Nessie four times in one day

The only thing that gave me a headache was SOB.
That's funny because Loch Ness wasn't even close to bad for me.

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DOWN WITH TRIM BRAKES!
Seeing trim brakes makes me sick. The only trim I can actually see on a coaster is the first trim on the Thawk at Dorney. I forget how it was before the trim but you still get tons of air at the peak of the next hill. Although the trim before the bunny hops is totally uncalled for.
I believe in midcoure brakes like on Steel Force, Mean Streak (not the ones on the first drop) and SOB. The ride was designed with them so they shouldn't affect the ride experiance. I believe these allow the park more trains running than just 1 or 2. Look at Wild Mice. They have at least a dozen brakes on the coures. Some parks use them (BGW, DP) others don't (Hershey). Imangine how long the line would be if they only ran two trains on these.
For two great coasters with no trims head to Knoebels and ride the Phoenix and Twister.
Is the Villian going to get a midcourse? Thats what I'm guessing that straight away is for before the one drop. Anyone have any guesses? I'll post this for another thread.
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Parks hit for 2000!
PKD,BGW,DP,HP,PKI,HW,SFKK,SFA,SFNE,LC,GE,QP,Camden,Lakemont,Knoebels, SFO,CP, *** This post was edited by coasterpunk on 8/16/2000. ***
I believe that trim brakes are a nessecity, parks just dont put them there to make the ride boring, there is always a reason. For instance, if there were no trims before the loop on the Steel Phantom, anyone who rode it would either be in critical condition, or experiencing chronic headaches for the rest of their life. but even though the loop is trimmed on the Steel Phantom, the second half of the ride still has incredible speed.
I notice midcourse and trim brakes slow the trains more sometimes than they do others. For instance I was at CP today. The midcourse brakes on Mantis usually don't slow the trains too much, but they sure did on my ride today. On thing I really look forward to on B&M's is the drop off the midcourse brakes. In case of Mantis and BKF, these drops are sudden and violent,and designed to jolt your stomach. Well, today, the brakes on Mantis really slowed the trains down, so much that the thrill was gone on the drop off the brake run, and the train practically crawled through the usually-intense figure-eight finale of the ride.

It seemes that the trims before the pretzel on the Magnum are set to brake the trains less at night. I noticed the second part of the ride was so much faster than it usually is. I felt like I was spiraling to my death through the second part of the pretzel, and through the bunnyhop finale, the airtime was so much more violent than it usually is. I think the trims are set this way in May too, because when I went to CP the few times I did in May, I noticed the same thing all the time on the Magnum.

I also remember when Raptor ran through the midcourse without being braked at all, and now it is all the time.

I wonder why rides are braked differently at different times. Is it because park officials need to constantly experiment with speeds to maximize thrills and minimize injuries and track-wear?
MooreOn, that is what I think. Either that, or they clock the speed of the train coming in, and then adjust them accordingly.

As for Villain getting brakes. God I hope not. It would ruin the air coming down that drop. But, if they got brakes, then they could get a third train. They would only use it on weekends (just like Batman Knight Flight) But, if you ride Villain, notice how much of an interval there is in the station for the dispatch. The train is usually ready by the time the other one is at the midcourse-no brake section. So, don't be surprised if some day they get brakes, but go I hope they never ever do.
Soggy's avatar
Are you guys sure that there are no brakes there? (on the villian) I mean, maybe the brakes are there, but they (wisely) choose not to hit them. Ghostrider has the exact same setup, and I thought there was a section of brakes there but they were simply not applied. A BLOCK brake does not NEED to be applied to a moving train in order to create a block, (remember that a block is merely a section of track) allowing for a 3 train operation. The block brake needs only to exist in case of a rollback or other problem on the section ahead of it.

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Gotta ride 'em all! *** This post was edited by Soggy on 8/17/2000. ***
I have ridden The Villain SIXTY times. Trust me, there aren't any brakes there.

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