Maverick blocks and tunnel slowdowns

Magnum had its bins for years with the same level of bottleneck that other rides like Raptor still have. What changed? The electronic control system.

It's probably a combination of both.

Has Maverick ever had a rollback back into the launch tunnel? I think I read something about that.

^That's the question I asked. I know it is possible for the reasons ride man listed but has it ever unintentionally happened?

Maverick has had that happen, rare but it can happen.

I had a launch tunnel rollback during the Red Cross (first riders) charity auction. I don't think most guests in the queue would ever know that a tunnel rollback had ever occurred since it's inside a tunnel and out of sight.

I don't know how often a lift hill rollback occurs, but I witnessed one on Friday May 27th.

One other thing changed on Magnum besides the controls, although it wasn't this season: the elevator.

Why they didn't turn that thing 90 degrees and connect it to the top of the ramp (which is level) instead of to the main platform (which is not). The unloading ramp and the railing that keep said ramp from becoming a trip hazard are also a major contributor to unload platform chaos.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Coasterkyle said:
Maverick is divided into 5 areas and 4 blocks (areas are where the ride can multimedia aka two trains moving in sync) those 5 areas are dispatch rear (rig hr ousted the front of the station), stain front, station rear, waiting front, and waiting rear (those last two are rig hr behind the station) the blocks are the in this order - dispatch front/lift > coasting 1 (top of lift till first part of the tunnle) > launch/coasting 2 > pre waiting. (pre waiting is the last brake section behind the station and the flat tirn).

Maverick can dispatch the next two trains when the 2nd train of the previous dispatch is entering the 2nd corkscrew. Same with dispatching the 2nd train. This will cause the trains to cross throughout the course. The reason for the train slowing in the tunnle is because the train in front of it has not cleared coasting 2.

And random fun fact yes you can safely have two trains in the tunnel. Tho it most likely will never happen with loaded trains.

I was thinking about this again recently and have a theory regarding the tunnel slowdowns thanks to this excellent post by Coasterkyle.

Because the trains are moved in pairs, dispatching the ride opens up the station for 2 trains to move in, which in turn opens up the 2 waiting brakes (wait front and wait rear) behind the station. This clears the safety brakes (pre-waiting) at the end of a ride. When the first train reaches the tunnel, the safeties are checked to ensure that it is ok to launch. For the first train, this seems likely to always be the case, as the initial dispatch of the trains results in the safety being cleared after a certain period of time.

Once the first train hits the safeties, it may then be forced to wait if the next set of trains has not yet been dispatched. Meanwhile train 2 is on the first half of the course. Train 2 will then slow down in the tunnel until the safeties are cleared.

So, the first train in the dispatch is likely to sit longer on the safety brakes, while the second is more likely to experience a tunnel slowdown.

All of this assumes standard 6 train operation. I probably need to observe the ride more to verify that this is the case. Feel free to poke holes in my logic if you see them. :)

I must say I truly do appreciate the elaborate technology installed in Maverick. If you really think about it, at one time, the PLC is taking care of:

Keeping the LSM systems (TWO of them at that) all in check and synchronized.
Moving two trains at a time in the station and handling restraint unlocks/locks, etc.
Keeping all the blocks moving
Operating the braking systems throughout the ride
AND making sure the system overall is not having any major malfunctions.

Roller coaster technology today is stunning in its ability to manage all this. Maybe I won't complain as much about the frequent breakdowns.

It's not that stunning. Demon Drop did similarly complex work in the 80's.

Yeah I think we are vastly underestimating the processing power that PLC needs to control Maverick. Chances are the computer you are typing on has more computing power.

I do think Maverick is a quite impressive piece of technology though.

The braking system on Dragster is insanesly complex, considering it is something designed for amusement. The number of sensors, alone is crazy. I am amazed at how, in the brake run, that brake plates drop before the train even gets close to them which must be due to all of the sensors detecting train speed. Even the number of proximity sensors in the station is mind boggling to me. I worked for for companies that made automtive assembly lines and I don't recall ever seeing so many sensors used on the portions we built.

The entire run drops its brakes before the train is launched.

Yep, right around five seconds before the launch begins.

The brakes do come back up sequentially as soon as the train passes though.

^As I have heard numerous people say, these fins coming up is what launches the train. Lol

Presumably, it's just a staggered, timed release as well, though I am not positive.

...or used to be at least. I think that was what happened with the "major" breakdown on Kingda Ka. The train was trying to launch but had a mechanical problem, then the brake fins came up on the track the train was still traveling over since they were/are time released. Not good.

Coasterkyle said:
And random fun fact yes you can safely have two trains in the tunnel. Tho it most likely will never happen with loaded trains.

Funny story to piggyback off of Coasterkyle's fun fact; while working in Maverick controls in 2008, I stacked two trains in the tunnel, both trains filled with riders. I took me a few moments before I did not feel the rumble of the trains while in controls (as the booth tends to give a little jitter as trains enter the tunnel). I ended up looking up at the monitors, and to my surprise there were two trains stopped in the tunnel. It just so happened that the first train started to launch but stopped after just passing the light screen (a laser light screen which recognizes if the train has launched in the tunnel). Since the system thought the train was launched, the computer allowed the second dispatched train to clear the lift. When we made our way into the tunnel to talk with guests stuck on the trains, I noticed that the trains were parked less than a foot away from each other. This later posed a problem since you must manually reset and launch the train in the tunnel manually from a control panel in the tunnel. The second train parked in the tunnel, however, was parked in the reset position for the launch so we could not reset the first train for the launch. All in all, we had to unload the trains in the tunnel using a ladder. One of my most interesting memories working at Maverick that season!

^^ Indeed, I just have no inside knowledge on whether or not the programming was changed to rely on the proximity sensors to release the brakes or not. :) Would it prevent a recurrence? Very likely.