Heartline Removed!

I agree, all it really needs is to be tilted. And just to clarify, how were these heartline rolls on other Intamins perceived? Obviously most were taken at slower speeds...

halltd said:

Jeff said:Well you should buy it, because it's true. When the ride is assembled, it has to be done in a particular order. The supports typically sit at one end or the other of a section, so no significant piece sits unsupported when they go home at night.

Yeah I know that. But, from the pictures of the track after it was removed, that makes no sense.

It makes perfect sense. Look at this photo.

The next track joint is right after (going uptrack) that support. If you removed the entire thing, i.e., didn't hack it off and leave the stubby piece, the next section is supported only at its far end, leaving a good 30 feet of it unsupported.

Jason Hammond said:
I belive there was one fountain.

That was just one of those surface fountains that doesn't require any plumbing. Whatever those pipes are for, they're new. It would be a cool idea of they were for geysers.

http://www.pointpics.com/details.php?image_id=6066

The track laying on the bottom of the pile is the one you're talking about. There's a support near the other end, yes. But, that's perfectly capable of supporting itself - especially since the track is coming out. So, they don't care if it stresses the track anyways. They just torched it - so stress is their last concern.

If you look at the end of the rails though, you'll see the "nipples" that go into the other rail. That is why they can't just lift the track out nicely. There is a reason the last piece of track they put on the ride didn't have these "nipples". If it really was a support issue, they would've hacked it off closer to that support you pointed out early - not right next to the end of the track.

There are plenty of pieces of Intamin track that have long unsupported sections. Since the track itself is basically a space frame truss, it can totally support it's own weight.

Water will be involved.

A wise man once told me that a while ago.

Disappointment after disappointment... That roll was one of the reasons I thought the ride would be cool.

S-curves, in my opinion, suck as an element. I'd rather have a bunny hill.

Tim, you just don't get it.

Like I said before, they may have hacked that piece off there to remove the track due to the ends but that piece of short track that was left attached to the support was left for a reason.

It was the support for the end of the previous piece of track that they AREN'T removing, that they don't want to stress.

HERE

Does that make it elementary enough for you?

*** Edited 5/18/2007 2:18:36 AM UTC by Loopy***

So I just watched a video of testing though the roll. The train is going extremely fast for that roll, and I can now see the concern. I just wish I wasn't excited for that roll =(

Best. Diagram. Evar.

Who needs CAD.

Loopy, maybe you should have sat in on the design session for the heartline, I bet we wouldnt have these problems we are having right now. ;)

I can do ****ty Paint images too. LOL!! http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?59fe45b34c.jpg

If you look at the two yellow lines, they're almost identical lengths. Both being "unsupported" as you say. However, one end of track #1 was chopped and the end of track #2 was not chopped. Why? Because they didn't have to. Track #1 was removed first. I can pretty much guarantee that track was already attached to the boom truck before it was torched. So, it wasn't unsupported at all. Next, track #2 was taken out You can tell this by looking at the photo from the blog. http://www.cedarpoint.com/_upload/blog/NBP228.jpg The track you see in the background, still attached to TWO supports is track #3 in my paint picture. So, even after they removed track #1 which was the "big long heavy track", the next piece (track #2) had an equally "big long heavy track unsupported). Why was that piece miraculously ok and the first one wasn't?

Again, the track is completely and totally capable of supporting it's own weight. If that's not "elementary enough for you", then I can't help either. The simple fact that the LAST piece of track installed on the coaster was the "non-nipple" piece of track should speak for itself. Why didn't they just slap in any of the other pieces last? Oh that's right, because it isn't possible with the "nipples" on the rails.

I think Tim is more correct, honestly. When they installed those two sections of track, did they install the section closer to the launch first? It seems to me like at some point during installation, that piece would have been unsupported for a while. Also, given the strength of that box track, I would bet anything it would hold based on my few classes related to statics. I can see where you're coming from, and that may be why they didn't remove that small section before the cut, but I think Tim has you here. *** Edited 5/18/2007 2:57:15 AM UTC by Existentialist***

Ok enough of the saw cutting the track off and male/female ends. Lets just go eat at Chic-a-fila and drown our sorrows in chicken sticks.

The pieces of track sitting on the ground are irrelevant. The next track junction from the stubby is a couple of feet uptrack of the support, and then another 30 feet or so before the next support.

But if you think there was some conspiracy that they knew about the problem months ago, then I guess there's no convincing you that they cut a track piece for an actual reason, not for giggles.

First off, I've already said there was no conspiracy - way to read my posts. Secondly, I never said they cut the track for giggles. Again, way to read what I write. I said they chopped it to get the first piece off. You said they chopped it because the track couldn't support itself. It's as simple as that.

The fact that you say the pieces on the ground are irrelevant just show you didn't even try to follow what I was talking about. In order to figure something out, you have to look at evidence, which is the track on the ground and progress images of the "deconstruction". Just saying they cut it for support reasons is what you like to call "idle speculation".

They do several things to prevent having a long section of track cantilevered. For example they have some sections that have 2 supports even if they don't need the extra supporting. This also means that the supports on the connecting track will be near the far connection on both sides. Another thing they do is not support a section of track, but support the adjacent track section close to the connections.

Even though they don't typically let the track hang out like that, they do it sometimes anyways. It won't damage the track in itself. It does make it easy to damage it if hit with equipment.

Take a look at this picture:
http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?i=5568

The hill was constructed by running the track up to the closer tall support. They put the top piece on and let it hang there while they got the next piece ready and put it up. I personally watched them do it. Notice that the base of the hill on both sides have a section of track with 2 supports and the top section isn't directly supported.
http://maverick.cedarpoint.com/_upload/gallery/mvt027.jpg

Personally I think that they knew that a piece had to be cut to remove the sections. They then decided to leave the short piece on to prevent damage in the meantime.

The part I don't understand, and all of us Pointbuzzers talked about this at the Opening Day party, is, there seemed to be enough room to make the transition of the heartline roll longer. That way, it wouldn't be so fast and have more distance to complete the twist.

I thought that would nullify the problem completely, just give it more room to rotate.

I'm happy with the decision because I hate Heartline rolls.

Regardless, I wish I was going after this ride opened, because it's going to be like any other Intamin creation-Fantastic.

(still holding out hope for early June actually meaning last day in May :))

This one really suprises me. Has there ever been a case where this has happened to another coasterin the last ten years or so? It would seem to me that Intaride should be quite embarassed. With technology as it is today there really shouldn't be a need to re-engineer a ride after it's built.

haltd, ever feel like you're talking to yourself? Sometimes it's hard to make a calculated arguement around here.

This dissapoints me, but if its for the better than i'm sure it will work out fine, it better be a good S-curve though. Removing the heartline roll makes the OTSR's just that much more pointless though.