Cedar Point 1978

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48087235@N05/sets/72157626055177959/detail/?page=3

The site has pictures of Cedar Point form 1978. It includes the original shoot- the- rapids, cedar creek mine ride and cedar point's newest roller coaster, Gemini

That Mine Ride photo gives you an idea of how that ride used to run. Think about it... they're going up the lift, and another train is coming out of the station, another is coming in, and the other two are probably out on the course and in the station.

Jeff, do you remember how many trains Mine Ride actually ran at a time back then? It was my favorite ride when I was a youngster and I always thought it ran six at a time: 4 out on the circuit and two in the station area; one in load/unload and one waiting behind it. But, I could be be wrong and it was only 5 trains at a time. I know watching it run now is joke with only 3 train op.

I believe Mine Ride now runs 2 trains maximum.

Erik Lee said:
Jeff, do you remember how many trains Mine Ride actually ran at a time back then? It was my favorite ride when I was a youngster and I always thought it ran six at a time: 4 out on the circuit and two in the station area; one in load/unload and one waiting behind it. But, I could be be wrong and it was only 5 trains at a time. I know watching it run now is joke with only 3 train op.

I believe the most Cedar Creek Mine Ride could operate with was 5. With the new system today the maximum is 3.

Yeah, it was five once upon a time. I wouldn't remember it (or even know to look at that age). It can only do three today.

Speaking of Mine Ride, does it ever run 3 trains? I have never seen that happen because of how long the loading takes. And also, when did Mine Ride get its modern friction brakes?

Probably a long time ago. Dave might know for sure. They installed a new controls system in the range of 6-8 years ago. It auto parks the train in the station which takes a long time. Much slower than it used to be.

When it was built Mine Ride took a lot of skill, and teamwork to make it work as designed. In my era at CP the crew was almost always made up of school teachers (it was an all female ride for years). My wife worked on it briefly during the mid 1980's, but transfered out to a ride that was "less stressful" to run. Five train operation was the norm on busy days, and usually nothing less than four the rest of the time.

Thanks guys, I couldn't remember if was five or six. Chuck Wagon you are right about the auto park being so slow. I rode Mine Ride last year in Sept. and they were running 3 train operation and stacking almost every cycle.

Dutchman said:
When it was built Mine Ride took a lot of skill, and teamwork to make it work as designed. In my era at CP the crew was almost always made up of school teachers (it was an all female ride for years). My wife worked on it briefly during the mid 1980's, but transfered out to a ride that was "less stressful" to run. Five train operation was the norm on busy days, and usually nothing less than four the rest of the time.

Which of course let to many shutdowns when one train entered a block another train was already in. When working the Frontier Lift and Antique Cars in 1981, I remember seeing lots of shutdowns when two trains were in "F block".

Mine Ride is now blocked for three trains, but the slow park combined with slow loading means three trains will almost always set up on the second lift, so here isn't much point to it. Fixing the seats would help a lot, but the basic problem is that first the system waits too long after dispatch to bring in the next train, and second, when the train comes into the station it parks too slowly.

Mine Ride was designed to run five trains, but to do that it has to use separate load and unload. Two trains is ridiculous on a busy day, but the controls are really not properly optimized for three. It's one of those examples of where theory and practice don't coincide. But hey, the ride did lose it's two mid course brakes!

Sorry, I can't remember off hand when they re-did the controls. I want to say it was 1999ish but I am not sure. They did it because an Ill-timed preseason incident had them permit-limited to two train operation. Funny how the system that was supposed to get them back to three has basically stuck them at two.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHsKn8h-R-4&feature=related

Great CP "history" videos!

Was F Block the set of brakes before the second lift?

i worked at cp from 85-87. they would run a 4 train operation on busy days. they had to push the train out of the station as the next one was entering the station to avoid a shutdown. was a crazy busy station back then for the ride ops.

I have always admired the "organized chaos" of a busy station. I remember thinking 6-train Gemini was a pretty cool site to behold. I can't think of any ride today that has the sense of "urgency" in the station as many used to have. Probably because most are understaffed.