Iron Dragon Lift Chain Snap

I am hearing from friends at the park that Iron Dragon's Lift hill has snapped, I'm not sure which one though. What are your thoughts on this?

It's not uncommon for chains or lift cables to snap on rides. Its a wear and tear part.

They need to install a new one? Not sure what thoughts there can be.

Poop happens. Hopefully they'll have it up in a day or two.

Hopefully no one was hurt.

Fudge!

Only thought I have is that a lift hill snapping is very bad, and thankfully very rare... A chain on a lift snapping is another story, it happens and will be fixed, not a big deal.

"I'm not going on Suspended Swinging Coaster 1 - It isn't safe!"

-My thoughts

Do we need a "#PrayforIronDragon" topic now?

It can only mean one thing.

TAER IT DOWN!!2@#!

I got to witness the chain on magnum snap back in 2000 while working at the go karts.

Was it loud? Seems like that could be kinda scary, with big pieces of metal smacking into things under the lift.

I was on Superman at Six Flags America when the chain broke, and got to do an evac from about 150 feet up. I was in the second to last seat, and as soon as the train stopped and snapped back a foot or two into the anti-rollbacks, you could hear the chain whirring under the train and the chain dogs flapping around. At the bottom of the hill, you could see the chain piling up like a giant pile of spaghetti.

I may be wrong, but didn't this happen recently on Iron Dragon? I wonder how often they are intended to be replaced.

They last longer than you would think, but they do have a finite life and they have a rating from the manufacturer. Ordinarily they are replaced well within the life span so this doesn't occur, but sometimes stuff happens. They probably will just replace the links that failed for now to get it back up, but I would imagine that a new chain will be ordered.

Last chain break I remember was in 2011, if it's happened since then I can't for the life of me remember.

Last one for Iron Dragon or for the park in general? Seems like one breaks every year at some point, but I'm basing that only on my memory.

Here's a bit of trivia for you...

I have no idea what kind of chain Cedar Point uses. But it just so happens that one of their options, a leading manufacturer of engineered roller chain and components, is a company called US Tsubaki, or UST for short.

It just so happens that one of UST's manufacturing facilities is located in Sandusky, about six miles from the park. I wonder if they do provide chain for Cedar Point...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I hear they are planning on converting ID to a stand up coaster.

I can confirm that they were able to somehow back the one train that was stuck on the lift hill, back into the station. That's a good sign, but I'm not sure how long it's going to be for them to get the chain back on.