Confirmed: New controls for Mine Ride!
Dave, what exactly is that organization that compiled this list? Is it an independant contractor that specializes in amusement rides? I noticed that the Giant Wheel (though they called it the Big Wheel) was listed with dates 1995/1996, what did they do to it then?
-------------
Neil
By popular vote, the official start of the
millennium has been moved to
May 13, 2000
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Neil
By popular vote, the official start of the
millennium has been moved to
May 13, 2000
Sorry; I forgot that it is a "frames" site; I should have directed you to...
http://www.consignag.com
then click on "projects up to date".
Consign is an independent company which specializes in building control systems. In particular, they build the control systems for Bolliger & Mabillard coasters, but as you can see from the list, B&M are by no means their only client. Indeed, for the 1996 season, they put a new control system on the Cedar Point Giant Wheel. Ever notice the green prox switch that appeared on the back side of the wheel that year, or the fact that since the controls were updated, the Wheel doesn't go down mechanical as often as it used to?
I was surprised to find that the CP Wildcat and Sky Ride were not on the list. I know both of those rides have had updated controls installed in the past few years, but I don't know who did them. Knowing that Consign did several rides for CP, I figured those would have been theirs as well...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
http://www.consignag.com
then click on "projects up to date".
Consign is an independent company which specializes in building control systems. In particular, they build the control systems for Bolliger & Mabillard coasters, but as you can see from the list, B&M are by no means their only client. Indeed, for the 1996 season, they put a new control system on the Cedar Point Giant Wheel. Ever notice the green prox switch that appeared on the back side of the wheel that year, or the fact that since the controls were updated, the Wheel doesn't go down mechanical as often as it used to?
I was surprised to find that the CP Wildcat and Sky Ride were not on the list. I know both of those rides have had updated controls installed in the past few years, but I don't know who did them. Knowing that Consign did several rides for CP, I figured those would have been theirs as well...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
...But don't count on it. Unless they are also planning to install kicker wheels in the station and retrofit the trains with remote lap bar releases, it is simply not practical to run more than three trains on Mine Ride. Maybe four if one always stacks in the tunnel. To run that with five trains, according to my research, required a crew of thirteen and the trains had to be pushed out of the station. I don't see that happening anytime soon. But hey...with new controls, maybe they can pass the fault-tolerance test and at least run three trains.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
I was thinking that maybe they plan on attracting more people to Mine Ride this year, and that is why they are putting in the new control system.
If they were to change the height requirement back to 48 inches or accompanied by an adult, then I'm sure that ridership would definately go up. The best part of the Mine Ride is that it is an "Adult Coaster" that most kids can ride without being too scared.
This is just a thought and not a rumor, but wouldn't it be great it Cedar Point realized how important the idea of "family coasters" is. After all, Woodstock's Express seems to have been a big success with kids and adults being able to ride. They also seem to have changed the Jr Gemini's ride policy so that more than one parent can ride with their kids at a time. If Cedar Point were to change the policy for Mine Ride, they would have a high capacity family coaster that would be close to the other family coasters in the park. I think it would be great!
Again, this is just a thought, and I am not trying to imply that it will happen. It is just a guess.
If they were to change the height requirement back to 48 inches or accompanied by an adult, then I'm sure that ridership would definately go up. The best part of the Mine Ride is that it is an "Adult Coaster" that most kids can ride without being too scared.
This is just a thought and not a rumor, but wouldn't it be great it Cedar Point realized how important the idea of "family coasters" is. After all, Woodstock's Express seems to have been a big success with kids and adults being able to ride. They also seem to have changed the Jr Gemini's ride policy so that more than one parent can ride with their kids at a time. If Cedar Point were to change the policy for Mine Ride, they would have a high capacity family coaster that would be close to the other family coasters in the park. I think it would be great!
Again, this is just a thought, and I am not trying to imply that it will happen. It is just a guess.
Kicker wheels are necessary when a fully stopped train would not be able to gain enough momentum to move forward again. Right now, you can see kicker wheels on both B&M's in the park around the load stations, and also on Wild CAt and Disaster in various places. On the last two, these kicker wheels can act as both boosters or brakes depending on train speed, such as the midcourse run in DT.
*** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 2/3/00. *** *** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 2/3/00. ***
*** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 2/3/00. *** *** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 2/3/00. ***
I mentioned kicker wheels because "in olden days" they used to push the Mine Ride trains out of the station in order to gain a few seconds on the dispatch interval. These days, the park would never stand for that as normal operation, and in order to accomplish the same task they would need to use kicker wheels in the station. Since they moved the block brakes downtrack a few feet, I have been led to believe that they no longer have the 'won't move when the brake releases' problem at the block brakes, although it has not been confirmed to me that the problem was solved.
Actually, Wildcat only has the kicker wheels between the stations, in the loading station, and on the run from the loading station to the lift...which is perfectly flat. And yes, on the Wildcat, the kicker wheels do serve as station brakes. I'd expect to see a similar arrangement on Millennium Force, based on what I saw on Superman: Ride of Steel.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Actually, Wildcat only has the kicker wheels between the stations, in the loading station, and on the run from the loading station to the lift...which is perfectly flat. And yes, on the Wildcat, the kicker wheels do serve as station brakes. I'd expect to see a similar arrangement on Millennium Force, based on what I saw on Superman: Ride of Steel.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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