Millinium Force Down

As of 6:30 tonight millinium force is broke down,it never reopened,there looking at the motor that drives the catch car up, hope this doesnt mean a no go time again.

The lift motor was blown out on accident last summer. Apparently the motor used was no longer made and a couple years ago CP didn't buy a replacement motor at last chance.

The new motor was a different type and caused problems with certain electrical componets. The catch car managed to pop the chain dog up and slip past it during emergency stops causing long delays. Also there was a failure of the emergency hydraulic system run by a generator.

They actually hired the guy that worked for Intamin in their control systems department and did work on MF in 2000. He is also the guy who caused the train to roll back in 2000 too. Apparently he needed more time to work on the ride's program. Anways, he was able to ge the ride running at a reduced lift system speed.

Apparently they blew out the replacement motor in about a month or two. I wouldn't be suprised it this is just a continuation of the problem. Chances are that it won't be extensive thoughs. If it is the same type of problem, it simply shows that they are spending more money doing a half job of fixing the ride rather than fixing it right the first time.

Although it's not listed on cedarpoint.com as being down today, it looks like it will be. TTD will be the Joe Cool ride at least today, and probably until MF is back up and running.

Jump to Conclusions said:

he was able to ge the ride running at a reduced lift system speed.

Does that mean it's had a slower lift ever since?

It felt normal to me this year and after they got it fixed last year. It still had that final pull near the top of the lift.

I think last year during halloweekends (my only trip) it didn't feel like it had that extra kick towards the top. This year when I went, 6/15, it felt like the extra kick was back. Maybe it all in my head I don't know.

It's not all in your head, it definitely picks up speed as it nears the top of the lift.

Yes, I'm sure that any problems they had with the Millennium Force lift and lift motor have certainly not been resolved today, even though it has been running for 8 years now. </sarcasm>

The Millennium Force lift speeds up when it gets near the top of the lift if and only if the ride is running three trains and the third train enters the unloading station. The lift speed is based on the ride blocking, and is designed to run "fast" whenever possible.

If the train leaves the station early and the third train is still out on the course, the lift will stop near the top and wait until the third train enters the unloading station. I've had this happen to me with appalling regularity during an early morning ERT session because I was on the 'first' train and the 'third' train was the just-added, still-cold, slow-running train full of water bodies. We were leaving the station "on time" but the train ahead of us was running the course slow.

If for some strange reason the train leaves late AND they move all three trains together (do they ever do that anymore?) then the lift will kick into high speed as soon as the third train enters the unloading station.

If the ride is running two trains and the second train is already in unload, the lift will run high speed all the way to the top.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I was at the point july 4th 2006 and it broke down as me and my friend were in line. I'm guessing it was the bad motor that time and it stayed down the rest of the night. ppl left the line and we made it to the station. we talked to the rode hosts and they told us about the breakdown, then took us to TTD's exit ramp for a "free" ride on it. MF stayed down for days after that breakdown, though.

If for some strange reason the train leaves late AND they move all three trains together (do they ever do that anymore?) then the lift will kick into high speed as soon as the third train enters the unloading station.

What do you mean? If the train leaves late (meaning it stacked), then the train in unload will begin entering the load station the instant the first train has completely left station, assuming it's running in manual, due to the floating blocks. The same thing then happens with the train in waiting, which would happen whether it stacked or not. Then yes, the train on the lift speeds up when the train in waiting successfully reaches unload. If it were running in manual, then each train would be moved individually. Is that what you were saying?

That makes perfect sense ride man. It would explain why that "kick" is not always there.

Yeah, the kick won't be there if there are two trains (because the whole lift will be as fast as that kick), or if the train coming in was running slower (generally an empty, or if it's reeeeeally cold) which in turn will cause you to block stop until that train enters the unload station completely.

when i went the car got stuck on the lift, and after i read this, i see why.

when i went the car got stuck on the lift, and after i read this, i see why.

RideMan wrote:

If for some strange reason the train leaves late AND they move all three trains together (do they ever do that anymore?) then the lift will kick into high speed as soon as the third train enters the unloading station.

Top Thrill Dragster repllied:
What do you mean? If the train leaves late (meaning it stacked), then the train in unload will begin entering the load station the instant the first train has completely left station, assuming it's running in manual, due to the floating blocks. The same thing then happens with the train in waiting, which would happen whether it stacked or not. Then yes, the train on the lift speeds up when the train in waiting successfully reaches unload. If it were running in manual, then each train would be moved individually. Is that what you were saying?

The original setup was such that when the train was dispatched from the load station, the other two trains would move, nose to tail, along with it. So when the first train was dispatched, the second train would move from unload to load and the third train would move from the holding brake into unload. It worked a bit like Raptor, where if it weren't for the lead-car noses and the different colors (okay, and the couple feet of space...) it would look like one really really really long train. The result was that by the time the first train got out of the load station, the third train was already in the unload station, so that initial speed kick would go into "high gear".

I know they always had trouble getting the ride to run that way (and in fact I think they *ahem* had an incident or two as well) and so I think it doesn't work like that anymore; now I think it moves one train at a time. That means the third train CAN'T clear the hold brake before the first train gets all the way out of the station, so there will always be the two-stage speed-up on the lift.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I just saw MF make a test run on funcoast.

I see it running on Funcoast

I rode it on the 27th at 2:00 :)

Raptor on the other hand was up and down all day and did not open until the afternoon. There was a small crane by the start of the lift and mechs crawling all over the lift motor.

As far as the "kick" at the top of the hill goes...
I think it's solely due to the loading on the motor. When the train reaches the top of the hill and some the front of the train goes over the crest, the motor is still applying the same load as when it is pushing the entire train up the hill, but now it is only pushing half of the train, so there is an acceleration due to the motor loading. This may have been part of the design, as RideMan said, but I think it's just basic mechanics.