Covering on Iron Dragon

For a while I have wondered. Why is there sometimes a plastic covering over Iron Dragon's wheels and suspension apparatus?

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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point.

Duh... to keep the water out...

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MF 2000 - 269 laps

MF 2001 - ???????

I think this is on all Arrow Suspendeds. I think it is to catch grease from the wheel assembly, but I am more than likely wrong.

RideMan???

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Only 2290½ miles from Cedar Po!nt

Yes You to are bothe right to keep the grease from dripping all over and keep the dreaded water out of it,:)

Greg
"Whats life if you never get to the point?"

I think it's less to keep the water out than to keep the grease (and dropped parts :)) from falling on the riders.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yes, the diapers (I'm serious, that's what they're called) are to keep the grease/oil from dripping on riders, but also to keep the brake shavings from falling onto riders. Since Dragon's brakes are above the seats (duh) and the brakes get extremely hot when stopping a train, little bits of the brass can flake off and cause VERY nasty burns.

After it rains, that's why Iron Dragon doesn't open immediately - the crew has to empty out the diapers from all the water/debris that has collected, or else you'll have mud and muck flying everywhere. The water itself won't hurt anything, but passengers typically don't like getting muddy water all over them.

Iron Dragon Crew '98.
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Then if they are supposed to be used for those reason, how come sometimes I see trains operating without them on.

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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point.

Personally, I like the term, "crap catcher." :)
On Big Bad Wolf, each of the crap catchers has a grommeted hole in the middle. When the ride operates in the rain, a steady stream of water comes through that hole, alternately spraying each rider in the next car directly in the face. As I recall, it more frequently aims for the left-hand seat.
I have never seen an Arrow suspended coaster operating without the crap-catchers in place.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

OK, so I guessed right.

What about B&M (& Intamin & Vekoma) Inverteds? There is no "crap-catcher" on them. I am guessing the same kind of debris would fall from those. Perhaps the crap is caught in a more permanant looking fixture?

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Only 2290½ miles from Cedar Po!nt

I believe the wheel covers on Inverteds perform the same function. Well, they are supposed to.

I believe that you shouldn't unfasten the diapers without training or you'll get covered in ****e. Over to you jeff.

Notice that Iron Dragon has a rigid cover over the car; the canvas covers are between cars. There is also a rigid cover over the seats and between the seats on the B&M and Vekoma rides, but there is an important difference between the three designs. On the B&M and Vekoma trains, the only thing between the cars is the braking surface and the support beam. The flexible connection between cars is directly above the seats, is a single universal joint, and has a rigid cover beneath it.
Arrow, on the other hand, put the wheel assemblies and the train couplers BETWEEN cars. Also, I believe Arrow used a split joint between cars (not positive about that) similar to what they did with the Corkscrew train. This means there is a lot of motion between cars where the B&M and Vekoma coasters have no motion at all. This forces the use of a canvas cover instead of a rigid cover to make sure the wheelsets are completely covered.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.