This makes me feel safe.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/3607253/detail.html

Good thing they installed those sensors on the lift.

I remember seeing a pic from the late 70's, early 80's maybe with a DL train going thru a loop with the OTSR's wide open on the empty seats.

Maybe now they can put together a better crew on DL, before this that crew was horrible.

Horrible and stupid. I'm certainly glad to see them no longer employed there.

Yeah the crew was pretty lazy and slow. I'm shocked that they could even dispatch a train with one of the car's harnesses open. Don't they have to go down the line and lock them all? A ride operator knows what they are responsible for, that's just ridiculous.

I have seen the same person on more then one occassion sit near the ride op booth on DL 'playing' with his cell phone or pager while we are still waiting for him to lock our harness......

Whether or not this was one of those employee's who was terminated, I'm glad to see that GL did the right thing. Also, thank goodness for all the safety features built in!!!! *** Edited 8/3/2004 3:58:13 AM UTC by Sledge4cp***

The pedal-count interlock has been there since day #1 on that ride. Corkscrew has the same thing; it's standard equipment on Arrow loopers that have the foot-pedals, which is to say, all of the Arrow loopers, including the ones that have automatic shoulder bar release systems.

It is necessary for all of the restraints to be locked. It is not necessary for them all to be closed. As a matter of fact, there was a photograph published in the PD magazine section many years ago where the photographer put his camera on top of his head, pointed it backward, and snapped a photo as the train went through one of the loops. In the photo, one of the seats is unoccupied, and the shoulder bar is sticking straight up in the air.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I was kind of waiting for this to happen. I've seen the Double Loop crew doing the "Arrow Pedal Dance" more than once this season. That is, actually poping peddals as the train rolls into the station. Couldn't believe it.

It's a shame the story made it into the media though.

That train-rolling-in pedal dance used to be SOP on that ride. But it has always also been SOP to get all the pedals locked back up before sending the train out again!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, after two or three ops got their shoelaces caught in the kickers and were dragged through the station you think the practice would have been eliminated decades ago.

Actually the sensor/alarm for Corkscrew is in the station. I remember dating a girl on the crew a few years back and I was on the platform one morning while they were opening the ride, and part of the opening procedures was to test the alarm. I have a film picture of the sensor somewhere I think its just big, ugly, black, circular box.

On corkscrew, the senser is located on the left hand side just as you are leaving the station.

It is in a (I think round and blue) box of some sort with a plexyglass shield to protect it.

I just happend to be at the ride when an employie dispatched the train out with an open pedal. And sure enough, it stopped on the lift just under half way up.

Yeah, it's a very big blue prox sensor. Does anyone remember the original setup? It was a mechanical switch that the pedals hit when they were in the unlocked position.

Dave, are you sure the prox sensor counts pedals? I'll have to watch closely, but I thought an unlocked pedal would be detected by the prox sensor, which in turn shuts the lift off. That would seem to be a much easier solution then building pedal counting logic into the system.

It would be an easier solution, but the way the prox is mounted (and I could swear it was yellow on Corkscrew...) it would only 'see' the pedals if they are up.

My guess is that the prox switch will only catch the pedal if it is all the way up. A switch that caught an unlocked pedal would only catch it if the pedal was *fully* unlocked...if it were, say, halfway down, it would be unlocked and missed by a trip switch.

Just a guess, mind you, but it makes sense to me... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The safety systems on roller coasters fascinate me. The manufacturers really make roller coasters so a error is very hard to come by. I guess that's why they can put the lives of a trainload of people in the hands of a teenager.

Interesting. From what I have heard, wouldn't the force of the ride keep you in your seat?

Also, I was at CP once and we were a little afraid they were gonna miss our section..it was late at night so they were "playing" around and seeing who could unlock and lock the fastest. We started to yell so they came and did ours after they realized it wasn't locked.

I was on the ride before in this season and the ride ops on that ride were slow, playing around, and i think the op running it was playing with a phone or something like that. After about 5 minutes they ran the ride.

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RideMan said:
The pedal-count interlock has been there since day #1 on that ride. Corkscrew has the same thing; it's standard equipment on Arrow loopers that have the foot-pedals, which is to say, all of the Arrow loopers, including the ones that have automatic shoulder bar release systems.

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As in standard equipment, do you mean it has to be there? Because Vortex at PKI, is an Arrow Looper and does not have the pedals. I've rode it many times and the operators just go down the train pushing down on your OTSR and then pulling back up on it. Never have saw an operator stepping on a pedal.

Vortex seats are also alot easier to get into compared to Corkscrew... Here's a picture of Vortex and its trains.

http://www.coastergallery.com/2000/Vortex3.jpg

http://www.coastergallery.com/2000/vortex03.jpg

http://www.coastergallery.com/2000/Vortex1.jpg

He means standard on rides that use the pedals. Vortex does not, and the release is mechanical under the train.

Actually, Vortex DOES have the foot pedals, but they are on the left-hand side of the train. They are not 'bi-stable'...that is, if the operator takes his foot off of the pedal, it is spring-biased to come back up again. As Jeff pointed out, the shoulder bars are normally released by a roller that hangs down under the back of the train. When the rail comes up in the station and releases the shoulder bars, you can actually see the pedals drop on the unload side of the train.

And Vortex has a pedal-count sensor, but if I remember correctly, it's near the bottom of the lift, outside the station.

In that first photo (http://www.coastergallery.com/2000/Vortex3.jpg ) you can kind of see the pedals at the back of each car. They're hard to see in those photos but easiest to see at the backs of the first three cars. What you can see in the photo isn't really the pedal itself, but rather the T-shaped piece of steel that supports the pedal surface...it's the linking rod that extends into the car body.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.