Safety System On The Top Hat

All the pieces would be cut and bent first, then assembled. There would be too much stress on them if they were assembled then bent. And it would take too much effort, too. My guess is those notches may be required because of how close the cars sit to the track. The middle of the car will move closer to the track going over a curve like that on Goliath. There may be something that sticks out the bottom of the car that requires a little extra clearance on that curve.

Good point JW. I'm just wondering why the walkways if the train isn't going to stop up there? I guess it could be for maintenance workers but don't they usually just clamp onto the track itself?

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What goes up must come down

It might be like the ladder going up to the very top of each WT spike along the back of the track. Just for maintenence purposes. The workers I'm sure do clamp onto the track, but having the short walkway would make their lives much easier I'm sure. I guess it's possible is could stop perfectly balanced on the top, but I have a feeling that's unlikely. But better safe than sorry.

--James

Keep in mind, this ride will have a blinking airplane light at the top of the tower. If nothing else, they need a way to get up there for maintenence of the light.

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-Chris Woodard
"If you're standing in an uncomfortable position, that means you are in the right position because you are riding Mantis!" - Mantis ride op doing spiels on closing day.

Jdubya hit it right on. The "chain dog" of sorts on the bottom of the train sticks out just a bit. The tighter the radius of the turn the more the train will bend, the closer the dog will come to the track. The notch is there to provide clearance for it. You can see similar notches in the track on MF and Xcelerator.

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2002 Raptor Crew
"Hey, Cool. My voice is on the lift"

I guess in this case it would be the "launch catch" as opposed to the "chain dog".

If I remember correctly (and I usually don't) it looked like there would be a walkway on both sides of the track. That seems a little extreme.
*** This post was edited by jive 11/21/2002 6:22:04 PM ***

That sounds pretty correct. good point.

It does appear by the looks of all of the photos that there is enough walkway for both sides of the track. What kind of maintnence would u have to do way up there. I know they take x-rays of the track usually once a year to check for stress cracks in the steel. I have heard this is done by a machine that moves along the track. What are the walkways for. Maybe just so the brave and few luck individual can climb up there and say, "I'm standing on the tallest rollercoaster in the world." You could also get some pretty good photos of the park from there and hey it would make it easy to go up there and put up a few webcams for when the put up the 500 and 600 foot coasters in the future.

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Wicked Twister is a great ride! Just because it looks simple soesn't mean it sucks! I wouldn't mind having it in my back yard!
*** This post was edited by Joe Orlando 11/21/2002 7:56:11 PM ***

500 and 600... lol! It's obviously nearer than we think if they keep buildin like this...

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If the roller coaster scared you...

RIDE IT AGAIN!!!

Huh?

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Steve Sergent
MF count: 229
One of the few who know about the other big d

There will probably be a walk way on one side of the apex...just like on MF. The maintenance guys climb all over the track and have their fall protection so they don't need one on both sides. This would also cut down on the open feeling at the top of the ride.

I think that the maintenance person that goes up there everyday is going to have to have some balls!

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Launch: Tophat: Twistage: Brakes...

...Denial is an ugly thing.

I never thought of that. One side and hopefully only one side is going to have stairs on it. It will not have the same open feeling. Now it is going to matter who gets in the train first.

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Steve Sergent
MF count: 229
One of the few who know about the other big d

I don't think it would make any sense to have brakes because think about it like this, if the train got to the top and couldn't make it over then the brakes stopped it from falling back, what would make it go forward again? When the brakes realeased wouldn't it just fall backwards anywase? just a thought

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Just can't live in that negative way... Make way for the positive Day
*** This post was edited by realmadrid311 11/21/2002 10:05:38 PM ***

Don'r forget there is the row on the bottom of the train used as a friction contact. It goes the whole length of the train using the metal slids under each car and the connects would most likely touch the friction wheels too. The notches appear to be about the same size also.

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House of Tomorrow: Only technology makes live worth living