First keyhole tower section for GateKeeper arrives at Cedar Point

http://pointbuzz.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=1845

Very exciting stuff. I even enjoy the shots of the truck being escorted by the police-like vehicles and on the highway.

Those look to just be the standard vehicles that are required to travel in front of and behind "oversize load" trailers. Except for the shot on the causeway, that does appear to be a CP cruiser leading the way.

Is the keyhole still going up today? I haven't seen anything on the webcam.

No install today because of the snow.

So are the keyholes going to be left white? Or are they going to cover them in a steel wall which would make them silver? I know the rule not to believe completely in renderings, but.....they would actually look cooler if they were silver :)

Walt said:
No install today because of the snow.

I see why, there is a foot of that crap in Columbus, plus it is -10 outside. What is it like up in Sandusky? Here in C-Bus it is very cold.

^IDK about Sandusky but about a half hour east of Cleveland it's cold and snowy too. I'd guess it would be pretty similar over at the park, especially looking at the webcams.

The temperatures aren't too bad where I live. Atleast compared to what they have been.

Most of the area had 2-4".

^ Weird question but....Walt, do you or anyone else know what psi grade cement they are using for the 20' towers? (pounds per square inch). Over 6000 is construction commercial grade. They typically use 3000-4000 for sidewalks (less traveled areas).
This thought occurred to me realizing that 130,000 lbs (65 tons!) of steel plus track is going to be setting on each one of these cement pillars. Anyone know how far down the cement goes under ground level also for these? That's alot of weight/pressure laying on top of a cement pillar. Maybe someone will know.

I don't know about the psi, but the footers for the keyholes that are underground are 40x60 and they are 20 feet deep

CPfan1976 said:
This thought occurred to me realizing that 130,000 lbs (65 tons!) of steel plus track is going to be setting on each one of these cement pillars.

According to this, each tower weighs 65,000 lbm (32.5 ton).

Taking the mass of each tower as 65,000 lbm, and the mass of each track piece at 20,000 lbm (and I've no idea if that's even close to accurate), we have a total mass of 85,000 lbm.

85,000 x 32.174 = 2,734,790 lbf

In order to keep the pressure under 6,000 psi, there need only be 3.17 sq ft of contact between each tower and footer (ignoring safety margins and such). If the flange at the base of each tower is 12 in wide, the circumference of each tower need only be 3.17 ft. If the bottom of the tower were a circle, the diameter would need only be 2 ft.

DJ - the linked article states that each section is 65,000 pounds. Two sections make up each tower.

Therefore, the each tower is 130,000 pounds + track.

And of course, none of this takes into account the dynamic loading caused by the train roaring through.

Ah, gotcha.

Taking that into account, a tower with 12 in flange need only have a 5.6 ft circumference, or a circular base with a diameter of 2.7 ft.

And your point about dynamic loading is even more pertinent to the fact that the weight of these towers is not really that extreme, in terms of footer size requirements.

So have all pieces of both keyholes arrived on site?

2 of the 4 pieces are there

First Keyhole piece is being lifted right now.

It is in place, and it is tall!

Finally after a day or so of me refreshing ever 5 minutes something happens. They keyhole looks amazing, very tall.