Magnum New Computer System

Apparently the trims are now on a computer system that only is accessible by maintenance... (or something like that)

Has anyone recently been to the point at night to see if they are turning the trims off anymore? I know the last few visits they never turned off. You can easily tell by the look of the cars coming into the brake run...

I have a single very good reason to doubt this.

My last Magnum ride was two weeks ago and brakeless...brakeless for good reason because there were eight people on the train. My ride before that was trimmed with a full train.

I can only think of one way for a computer to reliably gauge how heavy the train is, and I have my doubts as to whether the lift motor is equipped with the necessary metering to make that work. Some rides make guesses based on patterns of performance, but on Magnum the penalty for guessing wrong can be severe: trim brakes with a light train on a windy day can mean a train that doesn't make it back to the station. So the safest way to make sure the brakes are off with a light train is to make sure the operator in the tower can turn them off if necessary.

I can neither confirm nor deny the story. But I can tell you that on the face of it, I think it makes more sense to leave that a manual control. That said, it also makes sense that the operator might be inclined to explain away his or her reluctance to violate operating policy just to make "you" happy.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I think the ride that this has happened to is actually Gemini the final trims before the helix are permanently on and only maint can turn them on/off....or something like that. I remember we were told this during the Coasting for Kids event.

I don't think I've had a trimless ride on Magnum this season, although every time I've rode in the evening it's been on a warm night with a mostly full train.

During coastermania i was able to get a trimless ride on gemini, however the helix trims were still on. Not sure what the other set of trims are even there for. The ride was not at all rough without them.

Got quite a few near trimless rides on magnum also. But nothing trim free.

Those other "trims" are the midcourse brakes, from the days when the ride used to run 3 trains on each side.

TTD 120mph said:
I think the ride that this has happened to is actually Gemini the final trims before the helix... I remember we were told this during the Coasting for Kids event.

They said they were made automatic in the last off season. They still have control over the mid-course brake.

TTD 120mph said:
I think the ride that this has happened to is actually Gemini the final trims before the helix are permanently on and only maint can turn them on/off....or something like that.

The final trims on Gemini should remain permanently on. Youch! (And I didn't even participate in the event this summer.)

Mike - there are very few rides where I'm hoping the trims are on, this is one of them though.

I can't imagine doing a marathon with them off.

The Mean Streak first hill trims can be disabled only by maintenance. I believe this happened as a result of them finding ride ops disabling them whenever they wanted several years ago.

Mantis gauges the performance of the last train, or something like that, to determine if the lift trim should be used or not. Riding on the first train of the day or after down time often provides a trimless ride.

Where are the trims on Magnum located? I have never noticed them unless you guys are talking about the ones right before the pretzel?

Yep those are them. Last year during the Fan week ERT I got 10 back to back trimless laps in the back seat before moving on for another 10 on Millennium. I was in pain for days after

Where did you sit on Maggie? My preferred seat of choice is now 4-2. Lots of great accelerating-over-the-crests airtime, and much more comfortable pops on the bunny hills.

I sat in the ejector seat for ride one then switched to the very back for 9 more in a row. Was really fun, especially the weird feeling of looking at a completely empty train infront of you.

I highly doubt they are now computerized. I've gotten special rides this year.

JuggaLotus said:
I can't imagine doing a marathon with them off.

I don't need to imagine it. I experienced it. :)

Last year I had bruises. This year I didn't. And I got more rides in this year. :)

I road Magnum at 10:05pm on the 19th with the front and back cars loaded and it was out of control with no trims on. To bad they don't run it like that all the time.

Now that I know where they are, I don't think I have ever ridden without them on.

From what the ride op told me, they had a costumer complain about it going too fast through the return bunny hills. The crew got chewed out because of it, and now decline requests for trim free laps. The computer thing is probably just a more convenient excuse.

I had a trim less ride at 10:05 pm on Aug. 20th. all I can say is WOW out of control.