Walking down from Gatekeeper at Cedar Point

Hmmm...if it is possible to haul the end of the new chain up and over the upper sprocket, then drop it down into the chain guide and pull it backwards down the lift, that wouldn't be the easiest way to handle it, but it would allow the chain to be installed without moving the train. Or, I wonder if they could take a short section of the old chain, attach it to a piece of wire rope and drop it down the chain guide under the train, hook the wire rope to a truck and use it to drag the train over the top using its normal chain clutches...

That sounds like a crazy idea that would make the OSHA people go ballistic...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I can't say how they did the entire process, as they had already had the tow truck pulling the chain through by the time I walked by. I was working at park that year, so it was after I got off, changed and went back into park to ride.

Also can't remember if the train was still sitting on lift or not. Maybe they had used the tow truck to pull it over as well. Not sure. I did not have my camera with me. Which is why now it is against my religion to walk into a park without it. :)

In the past (with Magnum), I noticed they had different procedures for walkdowns, depending on where the train stopped. The couple of times I was walked down from lift, it was not up far. So, we were taken down by groups, one car at a time. If the train was up high, they would unload the entire train before coming down. There would be several ride-ops and supervisors spaced out within the group.

Now, as far as getting out of train on a lift...not as easy at you would think. I was very surprised the first time of how awkward it was with the train sitting at an angle.

The other thing you don't think about is the length of that first step. I've never been evacuated from a lift, but I have exited Magnum from the transfer table on several occasions. Because there is no platform there, the drop from the running board to the catwalk isn't exactly trivial; it's much longer than a standard step, about 18".

One night Magnum suffered a failure that necessitated unloading a train from the safety brake after the last tunnel. Trouble is, in the e-stop, the train overshot the brake by almost a full car length. That meant the people in the lead car had to climb over their car and into the second car, then step on the catwalk from there. I watched it happen, but I think I was kind enough not to shoot video of it.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I am surprised Jeff hasn't mentioned his Superman walk down yet.

Joke’s on you. See the first post.

I had the opposite situation happen to me Dave on Mamba at WoF during Halloweekends. The ride computer e-stopped because of heavy fog from the scare zone creating a ghost train along the brake section prior to the station. The train I was in had 3 people; 2 9-year old girls in the front seat and me in the back seat. The issue was when we hit the brakes, the train didn't have enough momentum to get the last 2 cars to the brake run catwalk. Two guys from maintenance came, looked at what was going on and called for the ride ops to come out from the station and help push the train up into the brake run so I could be evacuated. I guess they didn't want me climbing over cars to get to the station, combined with no good way to get to the lap bar release on the back of the car.

I had to sign a release indicating that I wasn't injured, but I did get an exit pass and some free water.

I was evacuated from Hanoi Steel Dragon a few years ago. No harness/etc was provided but they did have two operators on the stairs, one in front and one behind.

As for replacing the chain, it's done with a crane and isn't a particularly lengthy job provided that there's a spare available. I saw it done over a few hours at Serengeti Park last year.

If it’s all the same to you, may I be the operator that is the one following behind?…

SVLFever - Similar thing with Magnum on the "ready" brakes before the station. When the train is stopped there, the back car is still on the banked track without any catwalk. For the evac, they have to manually move the train forward to allow back car to be unloaded.