trims: added to reduce lawsuits?
As for the trims, if a ride was so bad it was causing lawsuit after lawsuit, chances are it'd be reprofiled or defunctified. Trims, there are some that you just absolutely need, or there'd be busted rides.
As for a Cyclone, if Riverside is even remotely like the GACyclone, it needs those trims, or the ride would not be enjoyable. The speed that thing can pick up in the second half could get too crazy!
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the member formerly known as MisterX
*** This post was edited by General Public on 10/3/2002. ***
I'd venture to say that 90% of the time trims are added to control interval.
The other 10% they do it just so enthusiasts can complain.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure
Jeff stated, emphatically... The other 10% they do it just so enthusiasts can complain.
Dang it! I knew that's why they do it. It's gotta be the truth seeing how Jeff "is in the know"! Harumph! That's it I'm never going to a park that uses trims ever again! (NOT!)
---For those of you who don't understand sarcasm, that was it...
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Le roi est mort. Vive le roi.
Thanks Great America!
So -o- oh
So -o- oh
So -o- deFUNKEDified....
lata,
jeremy
--"Coming straight from da six-oh-six-fo'- fo'" (well actually from 60649, but my first license was messed up and read 60644 :))
There's a coaster that I've had a lot of experience with, its a woodie, and there's lots of brakes on it. The ride is pretty rough, and every morning there is a ton of work to be done on it, even with the brakes there. Without them, it would just be impossible to get it open on time jsut because there would be so much wood to replace - bolts to tighten - nails to hammer in or whatever they do up there when they're walking the tracks. The other reason is like Jeff said, interval. There's a timer on the control panel, and if the ride runs faster than X seconds, then the ride just can't be run without people coming off with sore ribs, bloody noses, etc..., but also, when it runs two trains it helps with stacking and such.
Problem being, if it ran two trains consitently, it would tear itself up even more - causing even more problems in the morning...
Once you work a ride, you really start to understand just how hard it is to properly maintain an older, very wild wooden coaster. A lot of people go around saying "Oh man! Six Flags Wherever takes crappy care of their woodies!" but until you've actually worked there, you have NO IDEA, trust me on this one. Seriously, I would venture that a lot of parks that "poorly maintain" their woodies put just as much time and effort in to their rides as even the best parks, just to keep the rides at the level they are at now. Its probably one of the single most difficult things a park manager has to deal with, but until you really know anything about the subject, you're just another enthusiast who's completely in the dark, blabbing about something he or she really has no clue about. :)
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
While I haven't ever worked on a wooden coaster I have spoken to mechanics who maintain both coasters known for their high quality and coasters that we love to complain about. All wooden coasters do require a lot of maintenance. And a well designed one is a lot less trouble than a poorly designed one. Still, some parks seem to do it a lot better than others.
You seldom find a park where one woodie is well maintained and another poorly maintained and loaded with trims even though they are from different manufacturers and different time periods. (Exception, MIA where Shivering Timbers is great and Wolverine Wildcat is brutal.) The maintenance quality is generally consistant for the woodies. You do find parks that do a poor (not unsafe) job of maintaining woodies even though other rides are well maintained.
Jim Fisher said:
You seldom find a park where one woodie is well maintained and another poorly maintained and loaded with trims even though they are from different manufacturers and different time periods.
You are right, it is very seldom, BUT the perfect example is Thunderbolt and Cyclone at SFNE. The only thing you hear nowadays about Cyclone is how its maintained - and yet Thunderbolt is BUTTER smooth, probably the smoothest woodie I have ever ridden, and its one of the oldest in the country.
By this post it should be pretty clear what the other woodie I was talking about is.
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
ravenguy98, total agreement here. Speaking from experience working a wood coaster, I feel the same way.
Jim, I can vouch for your point. SFOG's two woodies--Cyclone and GASM--are perfect examples of this. Despite Cyclone's youth, it require several trims (which may have been there when it opened). Regardless, it was not designed as "durable" as GASM. Much less work goes into GASM, and did I ever mention that it had its trims REMOVED years ago?
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the member formerly known as MisterX
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