Why are Millennium Forces brakes so loud? When I am waiting in line right where you are next to the brakes when a train hits them the sound is so loud you have to your ears.
On my first wait in the queue, I had to cover my ears, but my last couple, I started to get used to it. I don't know why they make that noise, but I do know that the faster it gows throught the brakes, the louder the noise.
Are you talking about the 'hum' or the 'rattle'?
The 'hum' is typical of the magnetic brakes. The rattle, I think, is the flexing of the cover plate that ties all of the brakes together...
--Dave Althoff, Jr. (who forgot the first time around to make some remark about Millennium Force having brakes by U2...)
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 8/11/2000. ***
By simply adding some weather stripping, that may dull the rattle a bit. But maybe maintenance still hasn't found what their looking for?
:)
Compared to the normal brakes on a coaster, though, MF's are even better than the real thing!
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UCSigep
Rides to the top of the World: 8
MF has to have those Magnetos [as I call them] becuase you hit the brake run going a good 30-40 mph [not sure on that] and if you had regular hydro's [my name for hydrolics] that'd be rough. I, for one, love that sound
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Brian Z.
Hometown parks: Kennywood, Cedar Point!
Feel the Force NOW!!
...and it RCT Millennium Force would probably crash because of brake failures. LOL!
Dave may have it partially correct about the rattle. I think it is possible that some of the wheels are wearing down at a fairly fast speed and is actually rubbing the static brakes in a few areas. What causes me to believe this is throughout the year, I have noticed certain trains causeing a little louder rattle. A more quite rattle could be due to a fresh new set of wheels or replaced wheels somewhere on the given train. Since all the static brakes are connected together with a cover plate, the vibration caused by the first brake will induce a vibration throughout the plate (which happens to be attatched to the other brakes. I will say since my last visit, the rattle has been a lot louder than I remembered. Maybe this is because the newer white wheels are a bit larger or smaller than the origional wheels making a the distance between the fin and brake a little smaller.
-Jon Smith
"See ya in the back"