Getting Stuck?

I was wondering what happens if you get stuck on ''Dragster'',near the top.Does C.Point have to keep a crane on site that can reach the top of what will almost certainly be a more than 400' ride?Doesnt seem like you could use something like M.Force has,will they use the same anti-roll back as the force.

I dont think you can get stuck on this ride if it was designed as a TH. I would think this because all your speed is from the launch and that speed should carry you over the TH with no problem.

I guess, since no part of the tophat is really level, it would be pretty tough to get stuck up there. Even if you did manage to get stuck, I would think that wind and people moving around in the train would cause it to roll either forward or backwards. Just a guess. :)

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11/12/02--Pearl Jam releases "Riot Act". 11/12/02 I go into Pearl Jam overload.

You know, I used to hear that it would be impossible for a coaster to get stuck in a loop or corkscrew but I know of at least two times that something like that has happened.

I think in both cases there was a broken wheel or axel that brought the train to a stop. In my opinion, it is best never to say never.

Yeah, I remember seeing a video of it on TV one time - the train was stuck at the top of a loop and they had to use a man-lift (crane w/ a bucket on the end) to get the people down. I also recall hearing it was a broken wheel that caused it.

Yeah, that was the Demon at Six Flags Great America.

I guess everybody has to start rocking in unison until the train rolls one way or another - kind of like getting a car out of the snow.

-- Harley

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CP fan since 68.

When I rode Xcelerator over the summer, they had a video in line that they showed. Included in that video a real quick insert that said, "If the train should not make it over the tower, you will be smoothly returned to the station."

Right. That's why there will be retractable rollback brake fins on the launch. The fins will be down when the train is launched, and will be raised immediately after the train clears the launch track. That is also why the launch will be at the same incline as a brake run. The launch in fact doubles as a brake run, so gravity has to be designed in to get the train back to the launch point. (which goes against Dave Althoff's theory of European coaster companies never trusting gravity to taxi trains :)) As large as the tower will proabably be, they've got to take a bad launch into account.

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Scott W. Short, Rail Junkie
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

I said this in an older topic about this...

If I'm up there and we get stuck, I'd just tell everybody to shake, rattle, 'n roll until we get back down :)

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Tommy Penner - Variable X
Cedar Point FanBoy since 2001. || Cruiser Boy since 2002.
"Pessimistic people are the happiest people on the planet. They're either right or pleasantly surprised."

Funny thing, I just saw WT get stuck by the brakes about 2 weeks ago when the ride was coming to the end(I believe this might have been the 1st time this has happened). It took about 10 maintenance men to pull the coaster back into the station with a huge "tow" belt attached to the back of the ride. There was nothing they could do to get the riders off first. They had to manually release each brake by climbing latters and then release the shoulder harnesses (once the ride was back in the station) to get everyone off the ride. Needless to say, CP employees were handing out a bunch of free passes, after about 40 minutes, to a very grateful group.

So if you were to not make it all the way over the peak,[mis-fire,hydraulic failure??],and rolled back,were would the brakes catch you,and once stopped, can they just drop you from that point back to the station[are there brakes there?],or are you stuck at that point?

Cool magnetic brakes will keep you from crashing into the station. Here is the train, track, and brakes during launch, Here is the track and brakes just after the launch. During launch, they're retracted into the track. As the train passes by, the magnetic brakes pop up, in case of a rollback. The train would slow down, I'm not sure if the train completely stops on the rollback brakes. However since the launch is on a slope, it should be able to roll gently into the station.

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Tommy Penner - "I should be doing school work" - Variable X
Cedar Point FanBoy since 2001. || Cruiser Boy since 2002.
"Pessimistic people are the happiest people on the planet. They're either right or pleasantly surprised."
*** This post was edited by MiLLeNNiuMRiDeR 10/17/2002 8:26:49 AM ***

Made two interesting discoveries tonight, thus reviving this zombie thread. The first being this (^^^3 posts above), one of my first posts when I first joined the old GTTP/VM site (before it became PB, I slightly changed my screen name when it did). I guess I joined 12 years ago!(knew it was a while but couldn't remember exactly) in 9/15/02 (during the mystery TTD construction while we were all guessing what that huge yellow structure was going to be. Seems like a long time ago.

The second being this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ_QXHaQHsY
Never heard or saw Maverick getting stuck in a loop before viewing that video. It happened during a test run from wind(?) I know that strong gusts typically happen toward the end of the season/October; thus some of the coasters get stuck during Halloweekends and need to be "pulled through".
Did anyone witness Iron Dragon, Gemini or other coasters getting stuck last year due to wind and having to be pulled through or at the top of a loop before? Curious to know if Corkscrew ever did? Anyone?

Dragster has gotten stuck at the top. Maintenance takes an elevator to the top and pushes it over somehow. There is video of it on youtube but I don't have time to look for it to link right now.

It took a lot of effort, but I managed to type "dragster stuck" into Google.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9U16LtHAGg

So imagine if it ever got stuck up there because of a wheel crack or something. I.e. some failure where they couldn't just push it over.

Then you just evac onto the platform and ride the elevator down?

After of course they tie the train down to the track so it won't move while your trying to climb off.

CPfan1976 said:
The second being this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ_QXHaQHsY
Never heard or saw Maverick getting stuck in a loop before viewing that video. It happened during a test run from wind(?) I know that strong gusts typically happen toward the end of the season/October; thus some of the coasters get stuck during Halloweekends and need to be "pulled through".
Did anyone witness Iron Dragon, Gemini or other coasters getting stuck last year due to wind and having to be pulled through or at the top of a loop before? Curious to know if Corkscrew ever did? Anyone?

My girlfriend and I were watching the park from our hotel room a couple years ago, and we witnessed Iron Dragon getting stuck right before the final brakes. It was crazy to see. It took longer than I had expected for them to pull the train to the brakes, but not all rides have direct boom/crane access.

As for the link you posted about Maverick getting stuck, it did NOT get stuck upside down in the horseshoe roll. It had to be pulled through that element in order to get to the next block (tunnel)

Scottyf said:
It took a lot of effort, but I managed to type "dragster stuck" into Google.

It wasn't a matter of effort, I was running late for work and needed to leave. I figured if I mentioned it someone would probably be searching by the time I pulled out of the driveway.

The TTD breaks do not retract until after the train clears the top of the hill. This I know from basic observation and also having been there during a roll-back. My kids thought it rocked.