Steel Vengeance

darkrider68 said:

For those interested:

Cedar Fair is a publicly traded partnership and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FUN. Investors interested in purchasing units must make their initial purchase through a broker.

I wonder what their boardroom looks like.

I hate to think that all of the problems with Steel Vengeance are going to prevent CF going with RMC for future installations. I mean CF gave Intamin how many chances? But that was an entirely different regime.

Hopefully we aren’t in for another decade of yawn inducing Immelmanns.

RMC had 3 installations in Cedar Fair parks alone this year, and others at non-CF parks. I haven't been following those so I don't know how those are holding up. Has TT had any issues? Railblazer just opened so it's too early to tell.

MDOmnis said:

I think CP usually sends their own wheels out for re-lining with a company called Uremet. Still though in order to do that, they need to have enough spares on hand to keep the rotation up. They also like to "cure" the wheels for a period on the shelf.

I was lucky enough back in March to go to SkyNext, a student conference hosted by the team at Skyline Attractions. I learned there that regardless of who made the center of the wheel, the composite tire (poly/nylon/etc.) comes from one of two companies. Uremet is one of those two. And the cure period is mandatory not optional, otherwise the tire won't properly adhere to the wheel and poses an even greater risk.

IOE, RMC, and Cedar Fair were all over the ride after the incident. It would NOT have re-opened the next day at all if the control system was flawed.

Thabto said:

RMC had 3 installations in Cedar Fair parks alone this year, and others at non-CF parks. I haven't been following those so I don't know how those are holding up. Has TT had any issues? Railblazer just opened so it's too early to tell.

TT has a lot of similar issues to SV in terms of reliability. One thing that proves that it isn't a programming issue for 3 trains is that blackjack hasn't ran since a preview night. Digger and Chess were alternating at least during the one train operations.

On a sightly different topic, when we were there for CoasterMania, a piece of wood high up on the "twisted snake dive" had completely detached on one side and was just hanging on by a few nails. It was removed the following day. By the time we got our last ride in Sunday, the next piece over from that one had also been removed. I'm guessing they will need to add in more bracing, that whole section of track moves quite a bit.

It is one heck of a ride, hopefully they get it sorted out sooner rather than later.

Missed a ride on TT when we were at KD 2 weeks ago, thunderstorms.

I did not see the loose wood but that area does bend out a lot. There are cables holding it from going out and it looks like it would crash without those cables. I hope it does get more supports.

Yikes. Structural Engineering is Shlike’s expertise.

Aren't coasters made to sway/bend a little so they can take the force of the trains?

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Every structure is expected to deflect under load. If it didn't do that, it's likely to just break.

Even TTD track sways left to right pretty significantly right after launch just as the train goes vertical. Intamin seemingly better reinforced the track/supports with KK. Yes, coaster structures bend and sway and are designed to do so. For poops and laughs; watch SFFT’s Rattler (pre RMC) around the second drop as it bottomed out and climbed back up the wall. W O W. #megaSwayAllDay

Link please?

TheMissingLincc said:

Then, right after getting off, the floodgates opened up, and it is raining pretty heavily. Just glad we got on before it started.

You and I were in line around the same time Sunday. Unfortunately it had started to sprinkle shortly before we got on. It put a damper on what would be our final ride before the heavy rain ended our last day at the park.

Brendan71388 said:

You and I were in line around the same time Sunday. Unfortunately it had started to sprinkle shortly before we got on. It put a damper on what would be our final ride before the heavy rain ended our last day at the park.

Yeah, I didn't expect to get as wet as we did when looking at the forecast the night before. The storm definitely popped up quite quickly. We were watching the radar the entire time. Since I only get one trip a year generally, we waited it out. We got a night ride in the back row as well, which is simply the best ride I have ever experienced.

I'm writing this in the ebb of a coffee-induced migraine, but I was there when the park got rained on sunday. It lasted for an hour or so, and I didn't expect to get soaked. My problem was that I had to leave at 8 o'clock. It started raining while I was in line for MF, and the MF entrance guy began bantering with the games. How often does that happen?

Skyhawk06 said:
Link please?

Holy crap. I would like to know what the people on the train were thinking when the train was swaying.

CPVet said:

I hate to think that all of the problems with Steel Vengeance are going to prevent CF going with RMC for future installations. I mean CF gave Intamin how many chances? But that was an entirely different regime.

In situations like this, the company's response to the issue has a much bigger influence on what happens than the original problem. If Cedar Fair is happy with how RMC et. al. responded the the Steel Vengeance issue, then I suspect we'll see more throughout the chain.

However the lost revenue from SV has to be MUCH higher than the STR fiasco (I’d suspect CP was planning on a record year, probably not anymore). And it seems that while RMC is trying to address the problem, it is still operating with a much lower capacity than intended. Responding is one thing, having almost two years to build with more years in design and concept is another.