The Car Stoped then I heard a chain sound???

I was a Cedar Point yesterday, and went through somthing unusual on the Millennium Force that I never saw happen before. 

First of all just as we were lined up on the platform as #1 to go, they said the ride was being shut down briefly for "normal matainance".  They said normally it takes less than a half hour.  After 25 min, we loaded the train.  We started up the first hill, when were were near the top, the train stopped and we felt a slight roll-back, then it sounded like a normal lift chain kicked in and lifted us the remainng 30-40 feet. 

All of the times we have rode this before, this has never happend. 

Has anyone seen this before?  Is this normal?  Is there an actual chain for the top 30-40 feet?  Is it possible during matainance mode someone shut off the chain, and just forgot to turn the switch back on?

Sounds like the standard anti-rollback test to me...

Don't knwo if they do it with people on the train if they have to do it during the day...

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"I'm Happy"
MF total - 388 laps
VertiGo Launches - 22
June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100

What probably happened is your standard block stop.  If the train before you didn't clear the back brake in time, the lift will stop.  If you were the first train out, then the train before you was empty and empty trains roll off the brakes slower than loaded.

As for chains on MF, you'll find those at the end of the queue switchbacks and no where on the lift.

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Scott W. Short, Rail Junkie
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

They ran a test train through during the test, which they may have done the anti-roll back test then.  (can't really see the hill to well in the loading platform). 

We were the first car out after the stop, and all of the other cars were at the Station area of the track. 

It was our car that stoped, fully loaded with people. 

The pause was too brief to be somthing related to a train not clearring a zone.  The stop was no more than 3-4 seconds, but just enough to get the little kids and my girlfriend screaming.

I'd have to agree with Scott.. sound sliek a block stop now that I think about it.

And yes.. 3-4 seconds can be block releated. Those 3-4 seconds can make a difference between a dispatch or a 'c-set' ..

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"I'm Happy"
MF total - 388 laps
VertiGo Launches - 22
June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100

Not to beat a dead horse, but if all of the other cars were stopped at the station, can this be possible?  Could some sensor been stuck in the on posistion from there test?

Lift chains aren't noisy.

Millennium Force has a more-or-less conventional anti-rollback mechanism on the train, but that mechanism is augmented by a device that lifts the safety dogs out of the engagement notches on the lift hill. The device only works when the train is moving forward at or near the lift's top speed...at lower speeds (or stopped) the safety dogs will engage with the lift and make a horrible racket, noisier, in fact, than the anti-rollbacks on most of CP's coasters.

So you heard a ratcheting noise as the train went over the top because the lift was moving a little slower than normal that time. Had the train stopped near the bottom of the hill, you'd have heard the anti-rollbacks at the bottom of the hill until the lift mechanism reached top speed, at which point it would be quiet again.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.