Steel Vengeance

The trains were not damaged, they ran Chess with guests later that day which was one of the trains involved. My take on this is that the ride needs tweaking to run three trains, that is why opening weekend had only two in operation, so they are doing that work now and staying with one train until all three trains can run.

I myself am also curious on what adjustments will be made. While Tony stated that RMC was working on it, I am thinking that IOE is also back on site, assuming it was a programming issue. However, if it was not a programming issue, what can RMC change?

When the ride re-opened on Saturday it was running one of the trains that had been involved in the collision. So apparently any damage to that train, at least was minor.

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

What about Digger? Did anyone notice any damage to that train?

This is a really tough situation. I've been looking forward to this ride for years. All the waiting and hype. The first rider event was amazing. We had 3 rides, the final being back car night ride - it was unforgettable.

But this has, for me, reduced the overall excitement. So much is unknown for now - will we ever see 3 train ops? Possible trims? Seat use reduction? My next trip is race weekend - was planning a fastlane for one day. I know Jason and his team will do everything they can to get the ride running at full speed and with 3 trains, but it's tough not to be a bit discouraged.

As for rating the ride - I put it at the top of the class for steel coasters as far as ranking. It is definitely (to me) more intense than Intimidator 305 and Skyrush - and that is saying something. It's my favorite RMC, and I would say it's probably my 2nd favorite overall steel coaster after Fury. It's going to be very tough during this limited operation, but I really do recommend a night ride towards the back of the train if and when you can. It's insane.

They never really planned on running three trains based on the operators saturday morning before the incident. The ride ops said that they only planned on running three trains on super crowded days because its not realistic to get three train ops with how fast the ride completes the course and how often somebody pulls their lap bar down. The line moves almost constantly with two trains.

I didnt think the line moved fast at all. I think a three train operation is needed.

It is absolutely needs to run with three trains. Even with the third train holding outside of the station while the train in the station finishes loading, capacity will still be better with three trains. I suspect operations with three trains will be similar to Magnum, a third train on Magnum makes a noticeable improvement in line speed.

Riders pulling down their own lapbars has been a known problem for years on these RMCs, yet even with a train redesign, this still wasn’t addressed. GCIs have had lapbars that lock in a vetical position to allow ops to check seatbelts for how long now?

One obersvation with the dont pull your own lap bar. People don't really listens to casual spiels ( because half the people do pull it down anyway). It might need to be shouted and repeated several times on the spiels. On MF they repeat loudly "seat belt first lap bar second "so many times the crowd ends up chanting it as a hype thing. And people actually listen!

People don't read signs either, but couldn't hurt to have a few larger ones in the queue. A few big ole west styled ones that say "NOTICE, well saddle you up, don't pull on the lap bar" could at least get a few more people to not do it.

Sorry if it was already posted else where... In case anyone wondered, single train operation is still scheduled for Friday 5/11, with most likely a boarding pass system in place again, I received this email on 5/10...

"We have an update on the operation of Steel Vengeance.

Right now, Steel Vengeance will be running with one train while the manufacturer, Rocky Mountain Construction, makes adjustments to the ride.

Because wait times for Steel Vengeance will be longer than normal, and to permit as many guests to ride as possible, we may institute a timed “boarding pass” that gives you a time to return to get into the regular line. Note that this is not for immediate access – it only gives you a time to enter the line.

Going forward, if we implement boarding passes, we will notify you on our official Twitter, including the time they will be distributed. Boarding passes must be obtained near the ride entrance and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Also, for now, we’ve removed Steel Vengeance from Fast Lane Plus. Keep in mind that you can still use Fast Lane Plus at many other attractions at the park, including Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, GateKeeper and Valravn.

However, if you purchased Fast Lane Plus in advance of your visit and have decided you no longer wish to use it, you may stop at any admission window prior to getting your wristband to receive a refund on your Fast Lane Plus purchase.

We will keep you updated once we receive further details from the manufacturer."

Kathy Wosber
Area Supervisor

I’m very certain that three train op was and still is the goal.

And Joe E. My experience riding was on First Rider night. There was an op on the mic doing exactly what you suggest. “SEAT BELT ONLY- SEAT BELT ONLY... DO NOT LOWER YOUR LAP BAR... SEAT BELT ONLY”. Seriously, in the course of the evening he said it a million times. You’d have to be deaf to not hear it.

And guess what?

To be fair, those bars are heavy. There were several times on media day that we noticed even the slightest bump while putting on your seatbelt, they would fall. Obviously, not all the way down, but enough to make it look like you started to pull it down yourself. The ops knew this and would always tell the person it wasn’t their fault, but I can see that happening during normal operation, too

TwistedWicker77 said:

I'll be hopefully taking a spin on it soon. I know it will already exceed Magnum and Millennium for me personally. I'm just wondering the comparison to (in terms of best coaster anybody has ever been on) Fury, El Toro and SkyRush as those 3 are my favorites currently

I think it definitely beats Fury and El Toro...Not quite sure it beats Skyrush. Haven't ridden it since 2016. Will need to take a trip back to Hersheypark soon to judge. My top 5 have been 1 Skyrush, 2 Lightning Rod, 3 way tie for 3rd are El Toro, The Voyage and The Legend. Fury was number 6. Steel Vengeance is either number 1 or 2.

Yea I noticed one row in particular where the bars seemed to constantly be falling - I want to say it was the front of the fourth car on Chess. The rest seemed to stay up reasonably well assuming they were pushed all the way up to begin with. Not sure what was different about that row.

With regard to the seatbelt only stuff, I'd encourage them to say it once on the mic, have signs, etc, but more importantly have each of the four (or better yet six) operators concentrate on a car or two and actually say to the people boarding either before they're getting in or as they're getting in "seatbelts only guys, we'll do the lapbars." People pay much better attention when told directly rather than over the PA. It would also help if they paid good attention to people and watched them closely and used common sense that if you observed them buckling their seatbelt and they pulled the bar down, releasing it to check is kind of pointless. The belts are retractable so if they aren't buckled, they won't stay across someone's lap. Someone mentioned making the belts yellow or some other color that's different from the train/bar too. That might help a bit too.

With regard to three trains, every day is going to be a super crowded day as far as operations at Steal Vengeance are concerned, so yes, it's needed. Even if the park is dead, this thing will have an hour+ line I'd imagine. I can't imagine that it wasn't the plan all along to run three MOST of the time. One will always be stacked briefly, but the ride cycle time is comparable to Magnum in timing - about 1 minute to the top of the lift, 72 seconds until the ride is "ready" for the next dispatch, and about 2:30 from dispatch to brakes. This ride has the added advantage of getting the next train in quicker (not waiting for it to come around the corner with gravity only) so that probably gives them 10-15 extra seconds of station time over Magnum and with 12 less seats per train. It's definitely doable despite the tougher restraints. I'd say an achievable dispatch point is the outward banked hill which would be about 80 seconds (about 58 seconds of station time). Even that is only going to get you a max of 1080 riders per hour.

I do see the occasional large guest being a problem similar to at Millennium Force, but having a good person or two at entrance should help with that.

I noticed here was a lot of clutter at the exit with parent swaps, special access, etc. They seemed to be dedicating a person to dealing with that which I think is smart. One thing I'd try to do is get the people boarding from the exit to the inside of the station as soon as the train is safely parked. Don't make them wait out there until everyone has exited past them because at that point, they're getting into the train much later than the rest of the guests and slowing down the checking of the train.

I think SV can dispatch as soon as the train on the lift drops. I might be wrong, but isn't Magnum dispatch ready after it clears the second hill due to possible valleying?

It has nothing to do with valleying, it's just the timing. There may be a switch up there to signal that it's OK to dispatch, but otherwise, it could dispatch as soon as the lift is clear. If the train ahead doesn't clear the safeties by the time the next train gets to the top of the lift, the lift stops.

Is the issue hardware related (brakes, fins, etc) or software/sensors?

We don't know. Based on internet reports, the control system was not ready/certified for three train operation, which is why they were only running two. In regards to the collision, people are speculating mechanical issues. Again, we don't know and probably never will. That sort of information tends to stay within the industry.

If a train on Magnum is dispatched the moment the previous train drops off the lift, there is a chance it will make it to the top of the lift before the previous train clears the safeties. This just avoids an unnecessary block lift stop.