Mine Ride

Hey dose anyone have any pics of Mine Ride back in the day when i could run more than 3 trains. I would love to see them thanks

Here's an old image from a postcard:

http://www.thepointol.com/cponle/postcards/ccmr.jpg

How is it possible to run 5 trains at a constant rate? Today they have some troubles getting 3 running.

The airgates kill the capacity.

Mine Ride is still able to run three trains but it requires that the crew actually hustle *gasp*.

When it ran five trains there was an unload station and a few more blocks.

When the control system was replaced, two block brakes were totally eliminated (although one has been sort-of put back) and the lifts were converted to VFDs. The ride was designed to operate with an unload station, and it was never intended to bring the trains into the station as slowly as it does now.

In my opinion, the station braking that is on that ride today ought to be totally scrapped. I'd like to see the train come in at high speed through a set of magnetic trims at about the car-5 parking area which would rapidly slow the train to a crawl, then the pneumatic brake stops the thing *once* at the loading position. Not four times as happens now. Experiment with it, get it right, then take good notes so as to implement the same thing on Gemini.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, I agree with RideMan, that would not only help capacity but it would add an extra element to the ride itself.

Yes, because God knows they fill the queue to that ride daily and the crew ends up working an hour past close.

RideMan said:
Experiment with it, get it right, then take good notes so as to implement the same thing on Gemini.

Did you notice how they "fixed" Corkscrew this season so it practically stops halfway into the station and then rolls forward slowly before parking? MF is also parking extremely slowly these days, I believe because the trains tend to slip on the wheels when it's wet.

Kind of reminds me of the maintenance guy who said, "they don't pay us enough to fix these rides, just keep them running."

Jeff said:
Yes, because God knows they fill the queue to that ride daily and the crew ends up working an hour past close.

Perhaps this is the same attitude that Six Flags uses. "Our line is ONLY half an hour - we don't need to add a second train." What ever happened to just doing things right? Not everything should be half assed just because it doesn't ruin someone's day. Maybe their queue isn't full, but it pisses me off to ride Mine Ride in September or October and have to wait longer than I do to ride Magnum. It just shouldn't be that way. *** Edited 2/7/2005 3:21:46 PM UTC by MDOmnis***

Please. I haven't waited for Mine Ride in years. I certainly wouldn't put time and money into fixing something enthusiasts think is broken.

Was Mine Ride ever good? I went on it a couple of summers ago, I ended up waiting about an hour for it, it was one of the longest lines I waited in. Once we got on it it stopped as we were going up the chainlift. It isn't a very good ride, don't spend money on something that isn't worth it.

It's a fantastic ride for families. Not every ride has to go 70 mph and turn you upside down, you know.

I never said it did. I'm just saying that people are making it sound like it used to be a lot different. I know that its a great family ride.

I still enjoy MR. People constantly plead for MR, CS, ID, and DT to be removed. They are a nice break from the major coasters, and is the reason why CP has a great variety.

Yes mine ride is a good family ride and first coaster.When my youngest girl reaches the height requirement I wouldn't want to start her off on dragster.Mind you I think Woodstock Express packs more punch than Mine Ride.

Speaking of the Woodstock Express site, Mine Ride had better scenery before the Camp Snoopy installation. Like Paddlewheel Excursions, the Gemini midway was "naturally covered up" and could be barely seen when on a boat or an MR train.

Actually, the last time I rode Mine Ride(last summer) there was a decent sized line. It was a little annoying to have the line inching along, especially when the ride wasn't that great. Now, mind you, I enjoy the smaller rides a great deal, but c'mon. Fix it up or something.

-S. Eagle

I rode the ride twice in May and was upset to see them only load the front and back cars of each train, with two train operation. I waited over a half hour, I'll never do that again.

That's done to balance out the weight of the trains so you don't get any rollbacks. Pretty common early and late in the season when it's colder outside.

They also do it so that they can just leave the lap bars locked on the two or three middle cars. At least they changed the policy so that when they are running at reduced capacity like that they will allow you to sit in the back of the train.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.