Maverick Dispatch Timing

Is it just me, or did Maverick used to dispatch faster? My friend claims it used to launch the second train when the first was entering the second corkscrew. Now, it waits until the first train has cleared the launch tunnel. Why is this?I understand the logic behind block brakes, but it has to be able to dispatch in the second corkscrew if it used to. (I believe the ride would roll back on the first lift if the train ahead has not cleared the tunnel, but it takes time to climb the lift, giving the next train time to complete the corkscrew and launch tunnel.) Another side effect of this is that trains no longer frequently "duel" through the main portion of the layout. Can anybody explain this, or am I just imagining things?

A rollback on Maverick's launch hill is no simple matter to recover from. When the LSMs are not used as launch motors, they return to their default state of braking. You'll slowly roll back down the hill but not completely off the motors. The drive wheels will have to kick and scream and forcefully yank you back off of the motors. Only then can they reset and launch you. Quite the ordeal.

Due to that, I highly doubt that the control system would be designed to send a train up the hill before the tunnel was cleared.

I also have no memory going back years of a train dispatching up the hill that quickly./

I remember when it was able to be dispatched before the first train entered the launch tunnel. When it dispatched like that, the first train would enter the twisted overbank turn under the 95 degree drop while the second train would go down the drop and it would almost be like a "near miss" kind of effect. Let me see if I can find a video.

Unless I am not understanding you correctly the situation you described above would mean that the first train had already cleared the launch tunnel as that maneuver under the first drop is well after the launch tunnel.

Correct. But with the new dispatch time, it doesn't allow for that to happen. The first train is well past the overbank turn when the second one crests the hill.

Does anybody know when or why they stopped that? Is it to prevent rollbacks?

^^ Gotcha, I understand what your saying now. I really didn't ride Maverick too much in years past so I'm not sure what would have changed in regards to that. I'd be interested to hear from someone how they could let a train go until the block at the tunnel was cleared though. I also recall some people mentioning that in the past trains would slow way down and nearly stop in the launch tunnel - perhaps that is how they could have timed them to meet up at the first drop.

Yeah. On certain coasters, trains can be dispatched before the previous train reaches the block because the lift acts as a block too. For example: IIRC, for efficiency, Raptor is allowed to be dispatched when the train in front of it reaches the top of the loop. If for any reason the first train doesn't clear the MCBR, the second one will stop at the top of the lift.

Now that the gate rule doesn't apply to operations anymore, Rougarou is able to dispatch the second train before the first one gets to the MCBR.

However, since Maverick is a launched lift hill, I'm not too sure how that works.

Yep.. On coasters with a lift hill, the lift motor can simply be brought to a stop, holding a train on the hill until the next block is cleared.

With Maverick, my understanding is that you really can't do that. You either launch the train all the way over or you have a rollback that's tedious to recover from. It also puts undue wear on the bottom of the train and the drive wheels. That's why I highly doubt that the control system is programmed to intentionally trigger a rollback if the tunnel isn't cleared. It's not a simple restart procedure like a coaster with a chain or cable lift.

See this post from last summer. A former Maverick ride op stated that 2 trains can safely be in the tunnel. There is (or used to be) a prox sensor that would allow the 2nd train to dispatch after the first completed the 2nd horseshoe roll. So yeah, it sounds like they might have changed something.

That would also imply that there are at least three blocks in the tunnel.. Two block brakes and the LSM launch.

Just two. The launch needs to have brakes at both ends because the launch can't stop the train, just slow it down enough that it will reliably stop on the brakes uptrack of the launch. So that block extends from the brake at the uptrack end (bottom) of the launch to the first brake at the end of the ride. The block that starts at the base of the lift hill ends on the brake uptrack of but not at the end of the launch tunnel. This means a train can start up the lift when the train ahead moves up to the ready-to-launch position.

But I suspect it doesn't quite work like that because I would assume that the park does not want to run both the lift and the launch simultaneously. It would make more sense to launch the train in the tunnel, then send the next one up the lift.

In fact the timing is a little better than that because once a train clears the lift the next one can move up,but it can't clear the lift until the brake before the tunnel is clear. And that brake can clear as soon as the train ahead clears the hill after the launch (just before the missing inversion :) ). So there are a few economies that can be taken. It still takes too long to unload and reload the trains to get a third train out on time, though.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Maverick doesn't slow to almost a stop in the tunnel anymore? I really need to get to CP soon.

^^ Gotcha. I figured there had to be two separate brakes that could completely stop a train. One in case of rollback and to pull you off the LSMs to relaunch. The other to hold a train behind. Didn't know that the tunnel launch block would have brakes at both ends. :)

Maverick does still slow to a crawl in the tunnel before it launches Coco. What used to happen sometimes was the train would come to a complete stop for a short time. Haven't had that happen in a long time, so I'm assuming the dispatch timing was changed as others have mentioned.