One Train OPS - Literally

In 2019, Cedar Point has only run "One Train OPS" on the railroad for the entire season.

I always enjoyed seeing more than one train on the CPLE railroad, even on busy Saturday's it has been a one train OPS.

What gives?

I would think that CP wanting to get back to more of its roots, that on the busy days, they would be running 2 train ops, but they didn't.

You have to wait 15 minutes instead of 7 minutes for the next train.

I already know the next reply, staffing issues along with the cost. Guess what, people pay a good buck to go to Cedar Point and they should expect to receive an amusement park running their rides at full capacity on the busiest of days.

I wish I only had to wait 15 mins for a lot of the rides at CP. Doesn't sound to bad to me.

But seriously, how can you undeniably say that the park has not run 2 trains AT ALL this summer? Are you at the park open to close every single day of operation? Are you a pissed off former employee with some inside knowledge?

We all know the real reason is they keep putting the damn wheels on upside down during over night maintenance and the 2nd train isn't available for use.

If there was a benefit to the cost of running a second train on the train, they would do it. Even on a Columbus Day Saturday, you are, at most, waiting 15 minutes. That’s not bad. My guess is not many folks are trained to work on the train, and they get more out of the staff they have by training them to do things like operate Steel Vengeance or Maverick at max capacity.

Just Coasting said:

I already know the next reply, staffing issues along with the cost. Guess what, people pay a good buck to go to Cedar Point and they should expect to receive an amusement park running their rides at full capacity on the busiest of days.

Well, Cedar Fair IS a business; cost and staffing issues are part of the game. What people should expect for paying "a good buck" is a park running to the best of its availability based on staffing, costs,

It's like complaining there's a line at McDonald's at dinner time.

Really? An extra 7.5 minutes?
Would much rather have sinks that dispense water with enough flow to actually wash my hands. Or on topic -a train that stops at breakers and is more than a scenic journey across half the park.

I will concede that I was at the park on 9/7, which was a day busy enough to have its own thread on here, and they were only running one train that day. But that was about the only thing I saw running below capacity. And as others have said, people had to wait a whopping 7 extra minutes for a ride on a near-capacity day. Not exactly grounds to get out the pitchforks and torches.

Leading one to wonder: At what point are pitchforks and torches called for?

Perhaps instead of dismissing the extra time as merely "7 extra minutes", think of it in the context of waiting twice as long for one of your favorite rides.

Or more accurately, consider the fact that there are only a select few rides that a family with young kids can enjoy together. Imagine if fully half of all the coasters were staffed/run at half capacity. Or half of all flat rides. I suspect the reaction here would be quite different.

1000 years of force said:
Leading one to wonder: At what point are pitchforks and torches called for?

Rain policy.

1000 years of force said:

Leading one to wonder: At what point are pitchforks and torches called for?

The dreadful food service operations, everything from the abundance of closed stands to terribly slow moving lines/service. I can't think of a day I personally have visited this year where at least 25-30% of the food and drink stands are closed. The thing that pisses me off the most is going to a stand and it has a sign "Sorry, closed, try X stand as the next closest place" or whatever the sign says.. and then that stand is also closed!

Recently, I had to wait another cycle for the train for the first time in... a really long time. And yes, it was running one train.

What's next? Complaining of one train ops on Wicked Twister?

Huh? Wicked Twister has two trains. One that goes forward and one that goes backward.

Just Coasting said:

In 2019, Cedar Point has only run "One Train OPS" on the railroad for the entire season.

What gives?

Out of curiosity, in all of your visits did you ever bother to ask the engineers or crew?

YOU: "Hi, just wanted to say I love the train"

THEM: "Glad to hear it!"

YOU: "Say fella, I've noticed that unlike in previous years, there has only been one train going. I was just curious why that might be."

THEM: ...(insert reason that no one here could possibly know)

They might give you a generic response, but they might not. There is still some season left to do some detective work. Of course, that is assuming you can 1) make it through the causeway before sunset, 2) find a place to park before you run out of gas, and 3) survive a visit to the bathroom without contracting the bubonic plague.

Just to rub some salt in the wound, when I worked there during the late 70's, they ran three trains on busy days. Required more staff of course, but boy could they move the people!

When I worked as a Platform Host on CP & LE in 2011, 2012, and 2013, we always ran both trains on the railroad.

We started the day off with only 1 train until the next shift came in to start their day. Once they got settled into their positions, we would put the second train into operation. Once breaks were done for the day, they they would take the second train out of operation since there was only 2 hours left until the park closed for the day.

So in lamens terms: the train is scheduled to open at 10:00. Unless something has change, the open shift reports at 9:25/9:30 ish to clean, do paperwork, and get everything ready, test the gates and the train. Then say the next shift comes in at 11:30, that’s when the next train goes into operation. Then in the evening if they still have the cut-back shift, after breaks are done and the second train is out of operation, the cut backs go home and it’s just 1 train from day 8:00 ish until park close; unless something has changed. I still don’t get why they can’t do that. Again I get it’s based on staffing & cost, but that’s SO MUCH EASIER. Not to sound mean, but I hope someone from Park Operations or Tony will read this. They’ve been doing only 1 train since 2014.

The "wait" during one train operations is one issue. The other issue, for me, is the "life" that having two trains brings to the park. I think the energy that happens on the midway is as much from the trains being present as anything else...much the same way the main midway is alive in part because of the sky ride floating overhead.

Is creating some "life" in that area of the park worth the cost to operate a second train? Not my place to decide.

Two busy Saturdays ago we waited 30 min at the Frontiertown station just as the train was leaving. I expected a 2nd train to come but it never came. A full train takes 7-10 minutes to unload/load and then the ride is 5 minutes, especially when the passenger cars are stuffed full like that. I was baffled at the one-train ops when everything else was max capacity. Hopefully it's not permanent, but posts above suggest otherwise.

Heck, I'd like to see them bring back extra trains to Mine Ride, Gemini, and Iron Dragon. Steel Vengeance, Valravn, Maverick, etc. are all great rides, but have relatively poor capacities. Fast Lane seems to make already slow lines unbearable for me, while it isn't as perceptible on higher-capacity ones.

Part of the problem, especially this time of year, is they loose a substantial amount of the operating staff. You just can not move somebody from one of the other rides into the cab of a steam locomotive. It's a skilled profession, and I would be not be surprised if they have just enough crew members available to operate one locomotive, with either the superintendent or a supervisor to give rest breaks.

Which is perfectly understandable. It does seem odd, however, that this would be a season-long choice; one not just relegated to the Halloweekends' season.

Do they have a reason? I'm sure they do. From a customer's perspective, however, it just seems like a strange choice to make, as it is one of the, if not the top ride-giving attraction year in and year out, not to mention an iconic one.

One would think it would be nearer the top of the priority list of where staffing monies would go, meaning there must be a good (at least in the park's eyes) reason. It's been a long time since I ran an amusement park, though, so I'm not sure what that would be.