Block System

Do you have to take a test on the block systems of the rides that you are going to be hosting/operating. I am going to be working at CP this summer and I would like to know if this is true. If it is, is it the only thing your tested on or is there more.

You will be tested on the blocks among several other simple items before you are allowed to operate the ride.

Like my kind friend here stated, you will be tested on the blocks before operating, but not hosting. You are able to work the ride doing seatbelts/lapbars/harnesses without passing the test, as well as work in the position that does spieling.

In order to work all ride host positions, excluding controls, you need to be able to do a lift walk on your first day, or they will move you to a smaller, circular ride.

After that, whenever you would like you take the test, you need to get an 18/20 in order to pass, and then you can do controls (w/ air conditioning! well...in most cases).

The test is unique to every ride, and if you are contracted to Wicked Twister, there is no test because there is only 1 train. The whole purpose of the test is to know how the trains interact with one another through the different blocks and what can cause/what to do in a set up or emergency situation.

But the test isn't that hard. and your crew members will most likely 'help you study'...

I probably sound dumn but what is a lift walk.

Well if you inverse the two words and add the word "the" inbetween you get "walk the lift". Which is what it is, you must be able to climb the stairs to the top of the lift hill (or funicular on MF).

My favorite test question is on Top Thrill Dragster asking about what do you do if a train stops at the top of the tower.

A lift walk is a requirement to work any ride except certain sitdown positions. Everwhere from Jr. Gemini to Magnum have lift walks. Millennium Force does not because they don't allow ride crews in the fanicular typically. Wicked Twister and Top Thrill Dragster don't have lifts.

I'm waiting to see if Maverick needs a lift walk. If it has antirollback then it will need a lift walk. The LSM on the lift can act as brakes so they really don't need antirollbacks. They can include the base of the lift with the lift block. If the lift fails or the next block does not clear, then it wil simply roll backwards down the hill at a regulated speed and stop at the base of the lift.

Jump to Conclusions said:

I'm waiting to see if Maverick needs a lift walk. If it has antirollback then it will need a lift walk. The LSM on the lift can act as brakes so they really don't need antirollbacks.

.. and what if there is a power failure??

There are will be anti-rollbacks..

I was thinking about that myself...I'm sure they've thought of it...or it would suck if you were loading into the train in the station and get hit by the train comin at ya from the front....whoops!

Anti-rollbacks, in the traditional sense, would probably not be a wise installment on Maverick haha.

Red Garter Rob said:

.. and what if there is a power failure??

There are will be anti-rollbacks..

What if there is a power failure when Superman the escape was on the tower?

The advantage to LSM is that they require no power to operate as a brake.

You need 3 things for an eddy brake, you need motion which the train moving in reference to the stators does that, you need a magnetic field which the Neodymium iron boron magnets provide on the trains, and you need a conductor which the copper wire in the stators provide. You might note that to form a loop in the stators, you would need to complete the path. There are plenty of semiconductor switches that fail to a short and fall under that state when they lose their gate signal from a power loss.

What you end up with is very simular to the eddy brakes used.

jump to conclusions is clearly my favorite poster on pointbuzz.

funicular

Is that the small cart that travels the side of the hill?

That is correct.

Watch out though because the ride is a little bumpy. People apparently spit their gum out a lot going up the hill on the train and it gets all over the fanicular tracks. Also the joints give a little thump as well. I'm sure that Red Garter Rob would know that since he went up to take down the speaker at the top for Tech Services years ago.

The speaker is used for the employees to talk to people on the lift if it ever shuts down with a train on the lift. It hangs off of the edge of the stairs where the fanicular meets the stairs at the top.

YIKES! No-way, no-how!

I love that coaster don't get me wrong- but there is no way I would ever get into that fanicular thing! That lift is too high and too steep!

I'll just wait for power to come back on thanks!

This coming from the ride op that had to be "talked down" from the Gemini lift hill one morning, due to the lift chain breaking during test rides. "No no- really you have to get out and walk down...." I was told by a sup. My response... "I don't F***ing think so!" I think my claw marks are still in the wood hand rails on that lift.

Good times.

^Good times. :)

OnPoint!
Greg writes:

What will happen to a train on Maverick's first hill/launch if there is a power outage?

From Tony & Tyler:

Greg, the LSM motors on the lift hill will act as anti-rollback devices if the power is out for any reason. Without power to the motors, they become magnetic brakes, making the train crawl slowly back to the station. You will not hear the traditional "clicking" that you hear on rides like Gemini, Mean Streak and Raptor.

They are going to act as brakes. How cool.

*** Edited 1/16/2007 3:05:31 PM UTC by Jump to Conclusions***

Won't that freak the public out. The train is going up and then all of a sudden it starts going backwards.

No more than stopping on a lift hill.

I imagine a sign might go up that states something like: "Occasionally a train might not clear the lift hill. You should not be concerned as the train will slowly return to the station."

If the train gently returns to the station, and there is one in holding, will it just gently bump into that train?

^ Yeah like TTD trains in the rain.