Question For Coaster Enthusiasts

A quick question that I hope doesn't make me sound too stupid but, how do they move trains between the transfer tracks and the station? And how do they get rides like Wicked Twister off of it's tracks for Winter storage/maintenance?

Every ride with multiple trains has a segment of track that moves and allows the trains to get on/off the transfer track.

and rides like the wicked twister has a removable piece of track to unload the train from the tracks.

There is a section of track that shifts perpendicular to the direction of the track. It will shift over to line up with the storage track. So to move a train from storage onto the running track, you roll it onto this movable section, move the section into line with the running track and then roll the train off the "transfer" track.

Wicked Twister I believe is dismantled in place and lifted away with a fork lift. I don't think there is a removable section of track on WT.

*** Edited 3/14/2007 8:21:10 PM UTC by JuggaLotus***

Actually John there is a removable section.
http://cedarpoint.com/upload/blog/osu4a.jpg

Basically, the ride operator pushes a button to lower the pins (when I say pin, I mean like a 4-5 inch diameter steel beam), then pushes the button again to move the track until it locks in place, then pushes the button again to bring the pins back up. The operator then manually starts the drive wheels and the train moves forward/backwards onto the track that it needs to be on. He then lowers the pins, slides the track over, and then raises the pins.

I have a question not about the Wicked Twister. Did they take the X-Flight out of Geauga Lake to make a whole new one to "Cedar Point" somewhere in the Park? I haven't yet rode a Coaster like that, and I would like too. I know they are moving the X-Flight down to Kings Island.

*head explodes from articles*

*assistant goes and gets a new one and puts it in place*

Ok, your question, I'm guessing, is "Did they remove X-Flight from GL so they could put in a flying coaster at CP?" The answer is: we don't know. They haven't announced anything yet, and it probably won't be until the end of this season if they are planning on adding a flyer.

Now, can anyone name the movie reference at the top?

x-flight is firehawk. I do not understand the question. Why would they have to take a flying coaster out of a sister park to build a new one at CP? And besides that sounds like another 2008 question.

Peace, Mikey
*** Edited 3/15/2007 5:51:26 PM UTC by Mikeybo2004***

Not yet.

But it will be.

X-Flight was removed because the ride didn't fit into what GL's plan is for the future. That's bottom-line.

Back to the transfer track:

Here's an excellent picture of the Vortex and its Transfer tracks at KI.

As you can see, there is the main coaster track, which has a train-lengh section that slides to allow movement of the entire train back and forth onto one of two storage tracks.
*** Edited 3/15/2007 7:17:56 PM UTC by Emiroo***

I think what he was asking is "are they moving X-Flight down to Kings Island because somewhere down the line perhaps Cedar Point is planning on installing one?"

If you think back to the debates over what was going in, many people argued against a flyer or a floorless because GL had both, with CP too close in proximity.

Mr. Cedar Point, if it helps, you really aren't missing anything by having never ridden X-Flight in my opinion. And to help answer your question, a more likely scenario is that Cedar Fair is uninstalling some major rides at Geagua Lake in order to help "un-do" the mess that Six Flags made of the park. They simply do not currently have the capacity for it.

And this is what happens....

http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/shame.html

When a train is being transferd, and something goes wrong.(look at the 4'th picture down the page).
*** Edited 3/16/2007 3:24:15 PM UTC by crazy horse***