Mine Ride valleys

Yesterday afternoon brought cold temps as well as a Mine Ride valley with guests. I know many rides have valleyed over the years during empty cycles when the weather gets cold or the wind picks up. But how often have CP coasters valleyed with riders? I know it has happened on a rare occasion, but I am curious if anyone here knows of any other examples like yesterday.

Where on the course did it valley? I have personally never observed a ride valley with riders on board.

Someone added this picture to the CP Rundown post about it happening.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156701033427542&set=p.10156701033427542&type=3&theater

I know Rougarou valleyed with guests on board about 2 years ago.

They got Mine Ride open at some point this afternoon. It has been a great (but crowded) closing day

Magnum stalled and valleyed in the pretzel with guest once. Believe it was its opening year. Don't know the specifics, but going to guess they had the trims (which at the time were at the top of the 3rd hill) on.

I nearly had the same thing happen to me one. It was a windy day with few guest in the trains. Magnum was trimless all day, and randomly they were turned on with maybe 5 people in the train. On the high parts of the pretzel the train crawled to a near stop when hit by a gust. Once it cleared that the train limped back with zero air and very little speed through the bunnies.

Kings Island didn’t open Vortex, Adventure Express, Backlot or Invertigo all weekend because of the weather, and this thread shows perfectly why.

Also, I was right about the 40 degrees for B&Ms. That’s what we were told Banshee and Diamondback would open at.

Going this weekend made me think it's less feasible for CP to have WinterFest. Not that I know the weather in Nov/Dec in Canada's Wonderland all that well but if they could have it I would think first CP could have it initially thinking.. But I would think Wonderland doesn't have those blustery Lake Erie kind of winds. Days like we had this weekend are quite commonplace in Nov and Dec add in snow pellets and REALLY cold blustery lake winds. Too many rides I would imagine wouldn't be able to operate.

Oh add in the staffing nightmare too that would 100% happen.

Thabto said:

I know Rougarou valleyed with guests on board about 2 years ago.

I don't remember that. But, I do remember Mantis valleying a couple years ago during morning testing with no one on it. They winched it back to the mid-course, loaded it with employees and let it go. It then made it back to the station.

Magnum did valley twice opening year. It was after they added the trims to top of third hill.

The first time, it didn't make it up the first half of pretzel and rolled back into the valley. I do not know if guests were on it that time. The train was removed and ride reopened with 2 train operation.

The second time happened two days later. That is where it made it up into the first turn of pretzel and stalled. If it had upstop wheels, it may have rolled one way or other. But with the cars tipping to inside, the upstop plates prevented it from rolling anywhere. Guests were stranded. It took about 3+ hours to evacuate everyone.

I was working at the park that season and was off the day of the second occurrence. From my room in Cedars, I could see the top of Magnum's lift from window and saw train stopped at top for long period of time. I finally went into park to investigate. When I reached Magnum, I looked in station - no train. I looked up to safeties - no train. Then I looked at readies - no train. My first thought was that the other two trains had collided since they could not be seen! I had not ridden in a few days and was unaware of the first valley. I walked back through Camper Village and as I reached the pretzel area, it was roped off and there was a crane taking cars off the track.

As I walked back into the park, I saw a ride-op I knew and asked. She told me about what happened and about the first valley two days before. The next morning, as I was walking to work, I saw them putting cars back onto transfer. The ride reopened with 3-train operation.

After that, the park installed a wind monitor on top of station. They quickly realized that was the wrong place and moved it to top of lift.

Thabto said:
I know Rougarou valleyed with guests on board about 2 years ago.

That's a different story. When it valleyed, that was because a guest's sweater got caught in the wheels.

Sounds like Cedar Creek Mine Ride couldn't handle what was in the shed .

I think I remember someone posting pictures on here of Iron Dragon valleyed over the water a couple years ago. I don't recall whether it had passengers or if it was during testing.

Mine Ride valleying is actually somewhat common especially if it is cold. If you look in that picture, there is a set of stairs and a catwalk right there. There is actually someone talking to the guests in that picture. There is minimal impact to those on the train. They can be evacuated easily and fairly quick from that point in the track. There is just the slight trick of the train being at a slight angle to deal with.

Magnum and Gemini are both venerable on their safety brakes. If the train comes in too slow and sets up, it will have part of the train hanging off the back of the break run and may pull the train backwards when they are released. I have also seen Magnum valley right over the resorts entrance. That was caused by the ride throwing a fault which forced the breaks to close while the train was mostly but not all the way clear of the safety break.

Go Intamin said:

Also, I was right about the 40 degrees for B&Ms. That’s what we were told Banshee and Diamondback would open at.

What are you talking about.... B&M's do not have a 40 degree minimum operating temp. Perfect example was Banshee on Media day.

More examples.... ALL THE B&M's at CP this weekend were running and the temps were as low was 36 in the morning and late night Saturday as well as Sunday. You've already been proven wrong on this. They only don't open the ride if there is a strong chance it will valley. Temp is only part of the equation!!

**DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this site are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated with in the future**

Unless something obvious is going over my head, I don't see why cold temperatures would slow the trains down. We're talking around freezing point temperatures, not approaching things slowing down at a molecular level at -450°F, or even -45°F.

You’re kidding right?

I’m not supporting the Below 40 lockout, but to think that you have to get to -45 to affect rubber on steel is just plain insane.

You have to get to -40 to affect the Steel. The urethane or nylon is more vulnerable to temperature. Wooden coasters should have no problem running in cold.

It's the increased viscosity of the lube in the wheel bearings that slows trains down in the cold. The plastic tires on the wheels should actually be harder in the cold and therefore they would run faster. On some of the arrow trains, like corkscrew for example, there is a little plastic cover over the wheel bearing lube and you can actually see it is a liquid. Not sure about the other manufacturers, they may use a grease, but the same theory applies. Just like motor oil in your car, when it gets colder outside the lube gets thicker which causes the trains to run slower until the lube heats up from the bearings turning.

^ which is why if a ride has been operating for several hours and then the temps dip into the 30s after the sun goes down, operations are largely unaffected. But if early morning temps are in the low to mid 30s, there may be lots of delayed openings as they have to wait for temps to warm up before morning inspections and empty cycles.