Brakes?

After coming out of the tunnel during the launch and before going over the swan boat pond, are those brakes it goes over before the turn.

The animation clearly shows brakes. The purpose isn't really known yet, but one can guess that it would act as a trim in case the train was going to fast after the launch. Another idea that I had was they could use the brakes to stop the train if it wasn't going fast enough and relaunch it. I'm not sure, but it looks as if the hill after the launch is the tallest hill of the second part of the ride, so as long as the train makes it over that hill, it will clear the rest of the course.

but what if the train is going to slow? ;)

Brakes could also be useful incase an emergency stop is started mid-launch for some reason or a train not clear of the next block. Train could be stopped on the hill, go back into launch position, and try again once everything is clear.

The breaks might be there for the same reason as the breaks on the hilll of the Mantis. To kill the ride. Or it might be a mistake on the tape.

It's probably a trim brake to be used in case of an overspeed on the launch.

The video didn't seem to show any slowdown over that part of track.

They're most likely just trims. I mean 70mph over that hill, down the turn, into the heartline and through the rest of the layout is a bit fast IMHO.

In all I dont think they'll kill the ride like Mantis's trims, or even worse, Mean Streak's do. Theyre going to be magnetic brakes after all, not friction.

We'll just have to wait and see.

A mistake? LOL!! Yeah, I'm sure the animator just accidentally put brakes on that hill. LOL!!

Jessai said:
Brakes could also be useful incase an emergency stop is started mid-launch for some reason or a train not clear of the next block. Train could be stopped on the hill, go back into launch position, and try again once everything is clear.

Other than the fact that I basically gave a good explanation for the brakes to be used in an emergency. A train would never be able to enter the launch block unless the block is cleared. That's common roller coaster blocking knowledge. :)

That's true Gomez, that went completely over my head when I typed that post, I feel so stupid. I'll be quiet now. :-P

I would guess that those brakes are retractable, able to turn them off and on, and they only come on if the launch is too slow. This will stop the train and allow the train to roll back to the launch point, rather than make it unable to complete the ride and stop someplace else.

However, the main disadvantage of magnetic brakes is that they cannot completely stop a train, so they cannot be used as block brakes. They also cannot be convetionally disengaged like other types of brakes. Instead, the fins or magnets must be retracted so that the fins no longer pass between the magnets.

That's from the Wiki. I'm not sure if those are LSM brakes or just simply magnetic brakes.

.. of course it's not that they would actualy need to stop the train. Because I'm sure once the train slows down enough by the brakes gravity would then take over, thus making the train roll back. *** Edited 9/18/2006 3:29:22 AM UTC by Keith 2005***

Magnetic brakes can be disengaged, they do it on both Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium Force. This is as stated on Wiki, they retract.

Since the brakes on the hill of Maverick's second launch are on an uphill section, they can stop the train. The train would be slowed until it no longer has momentum to make it over the hill, so to be 100% correct, the brakes would slow the train and the hill would stop it. The train can then roll back to the launch point.

DragonFire said:
but what if the train is going to slow?

The train is going to slow. That's what brakes are for. I'd hope they planned for the brakes slowing the train down since that's what brakes are made to do.

Pete if the train would happen to go back down the hill for whatever reason, how would they bring it back slowly? It's not like Top Thrill Dragster where you have the fins to bring the trains back slowly.

^^LSMs also have the ability to decelerate in the opposite direction.

Looks to me as if they are launching it to a high speed just to do so, then to slow it down. They do not look retractable.

I hope I am wrong though, it would be a shame to launch and then be slowed down almost immediately...

Invertalon, that is exactly what I was thinking too. Other opinions in this thread have shed a ray of hope on me though.

Theoretically, would putting a brake there decrease the amount of airtime one would experience on that hill?

Shawn Meyer said:
It's not like Top Thrill Dragster where you have the fins to bring the trains back slowly.

The fins on TTD do not move the train in any way, shape or form. They are purely there to act as brakes. There are retractable kicker wheels that can move the train if necessary and both straights are angled, the train will continue to move down hill, even with the magnetic brakes engaged.