Mechanism on Mine Ride

Seeing as how GTTP sees it's fair share of knowledgeable persons posting here on CP Place, I thought I'd ask here first.

While walking up to the Mine Ride station the other day, I looked to my left and happened to notice what looked to be a fairly new drum and motor mechanism with a cable attached to it which then appeared to be tied to one of the support beams directly underneath the track. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? If so, what is it there for?

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Everything that has a beginning, has an end. 11.05

Yup, I know it.

It's a winch to pull the train out of the low area there when it rolls back.

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- John
I Snap Flyers

Yup, It bearly makes it over that hill, and im guessing often (I've never seen it rolled back) for them to put a winch there.

And I'm guessing on Wildcat those are little chains that pull the train over those few hills because sometimes it doesnt make it over?

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TTD: 6 (Rollbacks seen: 24)
MF: 20
WT: 9
"Hey gals how ya lookin'?"
"Soooo Good!"
"Ooookay! I, I mean Sooo Good!"

Yeah, they added a recovery winch to Mine Ride. Odd that it took them 34 years to do it, though...although it may have something to do with taking the anti-rollback strip off that hill when they removed the block brake.

On Wildcat, there is one block brake at the center of the ride just ahead of the final helix on a section of track that goes uphill. There is a recovery winch there as well, in fact the rope is stretched along the track ties and connected uptrack of the brake. In an E-stop, that would be the first car that would have to be restarted...winch that car up off the brake and coast it into the station. Then at all of the other block brakes on the ride, there is just a brake and an anti-rollback. A couple of guys can just climb up to the brake and give the car a quick shove to get it going again.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Cool, thanks.

I don't really ride Wildcat much, but I do recall seeing everything you mentioned.

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TTD: 6 (Rollbacks seen: 24)
MF: 20
WT: 9
"C'mon, get off the rails guys, listen to the guy with the Disaster Transport uniform on!"
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"Hey gals how ya lookin'?"
"Soooo Good!"
"Ooookay! I, I mean Sooo Good!"

What do you mean by a large "drum"? take a picture and post it.

--brennan

It's a winch, simply put, the cable goes up to one of the wooden beams, and there is like a pully thing.

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TTD: 6 (Rollbacks seen: 24)
MF: 20
WT: 9

Right; the odd thing is that the winch is sitting on a concrete pad on the ground beneath where the second block brake used to be (right next to the queue), which seems slightly odd...on other rides that have recovery winches, they are often just attached to the coaster structure. Note also that some coasters have winches for moving trains around when parking and storing. Corkscrew, Iron Dragon, and Magnum come immediately to mind...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So thats what that thing is. I saw the concrete for it back in my June trip. I saw the winch on my trip yesterday and was puzzled as to what it was. Now I finally know. :)

Thanks a lot, Rideman. That threw me for a curve as to what it was, but now I know. Thanks again to all who helped to answer my question.

Note: a picture is not needed, if you actually read through the posts, it's pretty much self-explanatory.

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Everything that has a beginning, has an end. 11.05