Steel Vengeance

Steel Vengeance was testing 3 trains this morning, 100% sure. They also reprogrammed the ride so it can now dispatch once the train on course hits the wave turn. It climbs the lift slowly until the first block of the break run is clear. This means that the MCBR isn't active, at least for 2 train operations. The line really varies in time depending on how the row assigner distributes fast lane versus stand by. Today they were horrible and kept leaving empty rows. I waited around 90 minutes at 2:30.

I'm inclined to agree there's definitely something not up to spec with the MCBR. The fact that we've never seen a train stop there even for a block check would back that up as well. The fact that you say the next train was going slower up the lift until the first block behind the station was clear sounds a lot like Millennium Force (which has no MCBR) so that's another sign that something is going on with it. I can't imagine the train would not make it back from a stop there as it could when it was Mean Streak and there's probably a lot less friction loss now. The track up there seems plenty long to bring a train to a stop easily so I'm not really sure what the deal is.

Today was supposed to be the last day of the no early entry on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I wonder if they'll extend that or try working on it overnight some more. Or if they give up until the end of the daily operating schedule.

It's honestly a mystery to me of what the heck the issue is getting three trains going on this ride. Someone really must've screwed up with a very basic thing somewhere along the way for it to turn out like this.

RMC, as i understand it, builds coasters. Be it (now)trains, track, supports, all things coaster EXCEPT the operating system.

Side note: Not a chance RMC engineered the ride in error, that trains fail to make it home from a hard stop on the MCBR.

Operating system/hardware and the intricate marriage between them.. not RMC.

They’ll get it right.

Someone made the choice to change hardware (brakes, lift system, etc) for Twisted Timbers and Steel Vengeance. It's different than previous RMCs. So are the trains. Not sure who makes these calls. Is it the park? Doubtful. Is it the controls company? Maybe on the brakes, but definitely not on the trains. Is it RMC? I don't know the answer. Ultimately, I think it's on RMC since CP hires them and they contract out various parts of the project. I love RMC rides and most of them seem to run pretty well, but this doesn't look good on them.

Irvine Ondrey Engineering has programmed dozens of rides throughout the country, including a few running three trains.The main programmer (Brian Ondrey) worked for Consign for a long time before forming his own company. He worked on many three train B&M's dating back as far as being an intern on the Dueling Dragons project at Islands of Adventure in the late 90's. If the problem were just programming, I feel like it likely would have been fixed a long time ago. The fact that they physically changed/added brakes tells me it wasn't just programming. Maybe the braking hardware was supposed to meet a certain spec and it simply didn't do what was promised. Maybe these trains are heavier and they didn't account for that. But it goes back to the question of why did they change and who made the decision? Did RMC want to get away from their brakes supplier that screwed them on the Lightning Rod launch? Is it the same supplier? I don't really know, but I know Velocity Magnets makes magnetic brakes that supposedly RMC used in the past and they definitely made Lightning Rod's launch and we know how that has gone. We'll probably never know all of these details unless someone gets Fred Grubb drunk and he stills the beans. Just sucks for CP and the people waiting in line.

I hope they get it right, but the longer this saga goes on, the more they might just get it "good enough" and not to what they were going for originally. Dragsters trains were supposedly to move syncronously like Millennium Force, but that never happened. The fact that a ride can't stop a train on a block (or at least what should be a block) halfway through its first season is frankly kind of sad and weird. I'm hoping worst case is they rip all of the hardware off after the season and replace it with the old tried and true stuff that did the job in the past.

Whoever is at fault, the good news is there is reliable technology for this, so the future should be fine.

Cedar Point GCI’s report is heartening for me in a couple of ways. First, I’ve always had the inkling that SV was designed to run three trains in a similar fashion to MF. It’s tried and true and works well. And this one will benefit further from a speed-controlled lift and a block (not a trim) brake section. With trains able to leave as soon as they get the go, it’ll be awesome.
Second, I’ve been around long enough to know that an installation of this magnitude will likely include some start up issues. I have patience with that sort of thing. (Well, Lightning Rod’s situation got on my nerves as I didn’t get my first ride until my third visit from Ohio in November) And I don’t know anything about operating systems, but when they get this all ironed out it should be in time for when they’ll need it the absolute very most.

I think I’m going to drive up Monday morning. I’ll be sure to check for developments.

MDOmnis said:
I can't imagine the train would not make it back from a stop there as it could when it was Mean Streak and there's probably a lot less friction loss now.

At one of the Coasterstock events at Kings Island they had a speaker. I can’t remember exactly who it was, but I think he might have designed the Beast and worked with Arrow on Bat and Vortex. He said that wood tracked coasters maintain their speed better than steel coasters. In other words, after a mile a wood tracked coaster would have more speed than an equivalent steel coaster. He gave a rule of thumb ratio for what the difference is, but I can’t remember what he said it was.

Regardless, it would be a major faux pas if it couldn’t make it back to the station from a stop at the mid course. I’m sure they’ll get three trains running at some point. It just might not be this year.

The 2nd half of SV is significantly lower elevation than the 2nd half of MS. I don’t think making it to the station should be any issue at all.

I've read that intervals have been reduced from 85 seconds to 60 now. Haven't been there yet to see but it is making the line quicker from what I hear.

To be clear, that's the station dwell time that has been reduced and they're going to be waiting longer for the next train to come in unless they've made changes to the speed that things move behind the station. The interval with station dwell time of 60 seconds instead of 85 is going to be around 2 minutes with two trains instead of 2:25. It's an improvement over what they had, but there's still work to do. If they can get the third train on and get it in there and parked in 12 seconds from the time the previous one is dispatched (a tall order), then we can have the 72 second interval and a ride capable of the capacity advertised.

Almost made whole!

But still five eighths.

ImpulsivePhoenix said:
I've read that intervals have been reduced from 85 seconds to 60 now. Haven't been there yet to see but it is making the line quicker from what I hear.

it was 65 on my last visit on thursday.

Anyone else notice the structural change in sound as the train goes through the barrel roll up and around the lift hill while waiting in the tunneled queue below? The entire wood structure is now making an odd creaking noise that I never heard earlier in the season. There is also a very noticeable amount of forceful sway in that structure as well, even with the support cables attached. Also noticed there is some sort of odd footer/bracing work going on at the base of the structure on some supports in that area. I suspect we are going to be seeing some structural work done over the winter months to brace up that entire section of the ride.

Well, it had a pretty noticeable sway going all the way back to the First Rider event. It also had a very interesting creaking sound to it as well. I just write those off on wooden coasters.

They have sped up the dispatch from station. When I was there Friday night the timer was set to 60, and they were hustling people to get out of their seats once the train came to a stop. Once loaded the trains were sent out, and no train was waiting in the brakes at the time. Could this be some soft training for getting 3 trains?

Also, riding at night is quite the experience. I lost my orientation more than once when coming out of the barrel rolls.

This ride is totally epic at night! I like that the gyroscopic effects on the inner ear are unsettled for a time just before entering the station. It sometimes has me wondering how those people are standing on a wall...nope its the ride platform...

If you are seeing people appearing to be standing on a wall after riding Steel Vengeance, there may be bigger issues at hand.

7/16/18 still two trains, trimmed pretty heavy doesn’t kill the ride though, 1 hour wait at 8:30 pm, fast lane was very empty today, most everything was a platform wait all day.

I rode Saturday and the midcourse barely grabbed at all.