Capacity?

did anyone have the black guy working at dragster push down on your safety? he pushed so hard! after we had him the first time the next time we were in line we watched as he would push on people and it was so funny to watch their faces. it was painful! i always push down on my lap bar as hard as i can but he would slam it into me!
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"money doesn't make the man but damn i'm making money." -2pac

My question relates to the capacity of Maverick and Millennium Force vs. Gatekeeper. It seems the lift hill on Gatekeeper is the first "block" and that as soon as a train clears the hill another train can be sent.

Why is it not the same on Millennium Force/Maverick? It seems like both of these coasters are consistently stacking and have the longest/slowest moving lines in the park. I understand there are different manufacturers, but why can't Millennium Force be sent up the hill after another train has cleared it? I know for a fact that Gatekeeper sends trains out even before the train has hit the midcourse brake (watch the live feed).

Thoughts/explanations?

On MF, the lift cable needs to go back down to the station before another train can be sent up.

You can never have two trains in a block. You always have to have at least one block brake or lift between trains that are not under control of brakes or kicker wheels.

On Maverick, the first spot to stop a train once it goes over the lift is in the tunnel. Therefore another train can not be sent over the top of the lift until the previous train has reached the point of no return which is after the trim brakes after the tunnel - so basically during the water bombs.

With Millennium, there is no brake in the middle of the ride so a train can not be sent over the top of the lift until the previous train has made it all the way into the unload station, leaving the one set of brakes behind the unload station between the trains. You will notice that the lift on MF, when running in automatic mode and with three trains will speed up when the previous one gets all the way into unload.

On Gatekeeper, the train can not be sent over the top of the lift until the previous one has cleared the midcourse. Due to the timing of lift and the rest of the ride, this works out to pretty much being able to dispatch a train as soon as the previous one drops off the lift. Magnum and Raptor are very similar.

If the lift on MF was slowed down so that it took 60-70 seconds to reach the top, they could send a train as soon as the previous one dropped off (well actually they couldn't because the elevator lift cable has to return), but it wouldn't really increase the capacity. For capacity, the only thing that really matters is the amount of time between dispatches, not where the previous train is in the course, and of course the number of people per train.

Magnum's interval is about 1:20 which is 45 dispatches per hour times 36 riders per train so you get a capacity of about 1620 riders per hour. Raptor has a slightly shorter interval - I think it is about 72 seconds so that is 50 dispatches per hour times 32 passengers which equals 1600 riders per hour. GK would be similar. MF has a longer interval. It use to be about 97 seconds, but I'm not sure if that's accurate anymore. So 37 dispatches per hour times 36 people equals 1332 riders per hour.

In practice, because of interval not being hit consistently and trains not being 100% full, actual numbers will be somewhat lower than these.

I made a post here, but it got deleted. What happened?

It was deleted for making no sense. Since you asked.

If posts get deleted for making no sense, then PointGuru's posts need to be deleted.

Is it that his posts don't make any sense, or rather, he's been dubiously tagged as an interloper purposely trying to upset the PB apple-cart by expressing opinions and ideas that just don't jive, conform to, and fall in line with "the community", the CP gods, and what everyone who has a "reputation", thinks ??

And hopefully I didn't "Aunt Sally" you just then ! :)

If you don't like how things are done around here, feel free to post on forums somewhere else.

What I enjoy most about Pointbuzz is the quality of conversation. There are those who would rather cast aspersions than engage in the conversation.

Got our panties all tied up in a knot over that, Chuck ??

Please feel free to mind your own business and butt out next time then.

Yeah, Noggin, because Lord knows an esteemed, well-informed, intelligent, member like yourself would never engage in taking cheap shots and making subtle little digs as a preferred substitute for quality conversation !

Oh, me, and my little subtle digs... golly, you've cut right to the quick.

@Jeff You deleted it? I asked a question about this topic. What is your problem?

Quality conversation requires good grammar. With some posters that is lacking.

Was someone not using good grammar ??

I do see what you mean, though ... That whole 5 dollar vs. 5 cent word thing you so cleverly pointed out in the other thread, can get pretty tricky !

noggin said:
Oh, me, and my little subtle digs... golly, you've cut right to the quick.

Sorry, Noggin, my bad ... I realize now, I was in error ! There's absolutely no doubt that when it comes to contributing quality and value to a discussion, no one does it better than you and Bluestreaker.

Keep up the good work !

Can we dispense with the noise, please?