Track scraping?

I know topics about Dragster downtime/problems are usually frowned upon, but something I saw at the park yesterday has me curious.

I waited in line for about 45 minutes and got into the station when they announced that the ride was down mechanical. Once maintenance arrived, they were on an orange crane towards the end of the launch track and it appeared that they were checking the brake fins. When I was leaving the line however, I noticed that the one mechanic had a chisel-like tool and was actually scraping the bottom of the rails (so hard that some paint was coming off).

I've never seen anything like this before...does anyone have any sensible insight as to what they might have been doing?

Bugs!!...lol just kidding...

Hmm....I've never seen them scrape anything off the fins. I'm curious too.

Could be something blocking one of the many sensors.

Speaking of which...how has TTD been running? When I was there in June, it was doing phenominal. Not one breakdown all day.

Yeah i figured it was something with the sensors....and the ride ran great yesterday until it was my turn to ride lol.

They've yet to get rid of the hour to half hour breakdowns throughout the day, but the ride still is running everyday.

It was probably something blocking the sensors.

I heard yesterday (from someone who has ridden many times before) that the launch was exceptionally rough, which is unusual. So perhaps it had something to do with that?

Could be a build-up of grease spray if it was at the end of the launch like Millennium Man said.

Gomez, you are completely wrong. I have been to Cedar Point where TTD has had absolutely no break downs all day. I know when I was there last Sunday, I saw this "craine" (more like cherry picker) thing, and they were doing something with the brake fins, they would move them up and down, then leave and the ride would be back up.

I'm completely wrong. Trust me, I wouldn't say that if it wasn't true. Sure the ride has days without breakdowns, but they've yet to get the ride to run as well as the other rides in the park.

It's always going to be like that Craig. No matter how badly you and I want it to be.
Dispite the half hour+ breakdowns, it's still running great. When I went on the 13th it was testing at 9:00 and opened at 9:30, and that surprised me. But around 9:45 or so, it went down for mechanical reasons for almost exactly 45 minutes. Then it went back up and had small 10 minute delays (all rider related) throughout the day(and small delays into the ERT). And I dont have full details but apparently someone passed out from the heat on the unloading platform (I guess from waiting in line) and they had an EMT team (if that's what they're called) come and take him to a first aid station.The ride stopped for about 30 minutes while the guy was treated and carried away.

And maybe the scraping had to do with the brake fin holders. Maybe the paint was chipping away and was getting caught in something (like the return cable) so they had to scrape some of the loose paint off......that's just my guess.

*** Edited 7/22/2006 7:39:17 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

It was probably the remains of some over-excited enthusiast who wouldn't keep his hands down, head back. ;)

no

not a seagull could be rust on the track or they were taking of nuts and bolts and requered and air wrench

That does sound odd. I did notice that on the 13th while I was waiting for the line to open for ERT (I was towards the front of the line :) ) that one of the brake fins would not go down at all, even during launches, for about 5-10 minutes. Does this happen often?

When there are so many brake fins, the chances of one not going down isn't all that bad.

I have been on it over 60 times and have never seen that, but I was there the 13th. I did not notice that though, TTD was also my last ride of the day and the ERT people were there and I was in one of the first rides in the front row.

I have witnessed one of the brake fins not going down. The same break single brake fin stayed up the whole day. Apparently they didn't think it was any big deal if they didn't stop to fix it.

On opening day last year, there was a brake fin that was stuck up. They stopped the ride for 20 minutes while a mechanic fixed it. It's not a common occurance....but it's does happpen once in a while.

TTD 120mph said:
Dispite the half hour+ breakdowns, it's still running great.

That sentence, to me, is hilarious.