Trimper's Tidal Wave still closed, some details revealed

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

Police and fire crews determined the Tidal Wave had malfunctioned causing a steel cable to break, which, in turn, created sparks and smoke that initially led them to believe a fire had occurred. As a result of the ride malfunction, three children, between the ages of 10 and 15 years old, sustained injuries and were transported by Ocean City paramedics to area hospitals with undisclosed injuries, none of which appeared to be life threatening.

Read more from The Dispatch.

Related parks

This is really strange, it almost sounds like the ride was e-stopped while it was getting pulled backward up the lift hill, which would cause the brakes to clamp shut, but for some reason power was not cut to the cable motor. With the cable attempting to pull a braked train I could see it overheating the motor which would then spark and start smoking until eventually something had to give--in the case the cable.

I'm actually a bit surprised the motor could snap the cable. I would think trying to pull a stopped car would result in the motor burning up first. And the sparking and smoking would be typical of a motor in an overload situation.

You must be logged in to post

POP Forums - ©2024, POP World Media, LLC
Loading...