Woman falls from Dollywood Express

Wow. I was there yesterday(TR maybe), some notes:

Sometime when I was leaving the park, I heard sirens, but I don't know from where. I doubt it was from this, considering the place of the accident, and the fact that she was airlifted away.

I saw the train pull in twice before about 1:30, but never saw it again the whole day.

I can't remember, but is it a manual switch on the loop track at the top of the mountain? That would explain why the train was stopped.

Spring Switches installed on both balloon tracks at Dollywood.

While being air lifted to the hospital originally made the injuries sound rather serious, the new articles indicate that the woman did not have life threatening injuries and has already been released from the hospital.

Park trains at various parks have been involved in several fatalities over the years. There are probably 3 reasons for this. The trains aren't locked to the track like coasters. They can tip over. The trains have few restraints if any. Riders and sometimes operators don't take the accident potential serously due to the low speeds.

Well, unfortunately this has hit the news in the Pittsburgh area and to make matters worse, they are reporting that the accident that happened a few weeks ago at Rockin' Raceworld, actually happened at Dollywood. Why is it so hard for the media to get facts straight, but so easy to blow things out of proportion? Sigh.

The woman has been released and is now at home with her family. As Char said, tha train wasn't stopped, even though the news said it was.

Why did they halt the train robberies? They were cool.

The latest report said Danny Devito was seen running from the scene after throwing his Mom from the train.Sorry,I know it was stupid but I could`nt resist.I hope she gets better soon!

I don't get how they had to airlift her to Knoxville, when Fort Sanders Sevier is right down Middle Creek Rd.-3 miles or less from Dollywood.

Throw momma from the train was a good movie!

DollywoodRideOp

I spent the day today "playing" at Dollywood - and the sweetest sound of the day was the train whistle. Yes, the Dollywood Express is back up and running!! HORRAY!!

Yay!

The reason the train robberies were stopped was to get more rides in. There will be a new "show" in the Village with a Constable and Robber starting after Festival of Nations.

Great! It's about time the park went back to it's SDC days with things like that.

I know it doesn't really fit the family theme of the park, but I miss the saloon. Used to be one there by the train station, back when Dollywood was Silver Dollar City.

Rode the train on Saturday and from what I could tell, no really big operational changes have been made. It did seem to crawl out of the station though. Normally they seem to get the speed up so it can climb the mountain easier.

For the Railroad Fans: Dollywood also had it's 3rd Locomotive, WP&Y #71, dragged out from the kudzu behind the railroad shed. Maybe they'll finally get around to putting it back in operation.

I noticed that the train was really sluggish on Friday. Cinderella usually dosen't go that slow. I also saw ole #71 at the Railroad Shop. I didn't know they had a 3rd locomotive, why do they have three, when they only run one at all times?