Train Graveyard

Has anyone ever noticed the "train graveyard" that sits in the middle of the Mean Streak? Tacky sight. Im curious as to why cp would do that? i know that some of them are not needed, but why not keep them on the holding tracks? Gemini & Mine Ride both have very large holding tracks and those are the main ones that are just thrown off to the side along with some white water landing boats and turnpike cars, where people can still see them. it just looks quite tacky and youd think they would store them away, i mean cp is a beautiful place! Another spot is if your on on the train, or the boat ride, you pass an area with high weeds and in the middle is alot of old skyride cars, and a whole lot of debirs from years past.

That is the displaced boneyard that was moved to make room for the Lighthouse Point expansion. One problem with being on a peninsula is the limited space you have for "back of the house" necessities.

At some point I would expect many of these things like dorms, Purchasing, Personnel, etc to be located off the peninsula but things like maintenance, the laundry, foods warehouses, etc will probably have to remain on-Point.

If you think about it though - you see some of the older stuff back in these areas and it does make you think back to when they were in service. There used to be an enclosed train car and a few other older railroad things that they don't use anymore. When I see them I remember when I could ride on them. It makes you sad that you can't anymore but you have the memories.. I think some of the skyride cars are from the old Frontier Lift.

I kind of like seeing the trains off the track

Actually, what you see in the Mean Streak infield is NOT the displaced boneyard. The displaced boneyard is now located on the island under Snake River Falls. In the Mean Streak infield they built a whole warehouse-type building which appears to be a maintenance facility. From the look of it, that building probably specializes in Arrow Runaway Train coaster cars...meaning Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Gemini, and Magnum XL-200.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Oops, my bad. In any case, some stuff will always need to be easily accessible by being kept "on-Point".

Now that I think about it I have never seen maggies cars off the track.

i doubt magnums trains will ever come off the track or on the holding tracks, let alone MF's trains!

but...i still dont understand why gemini and mine ride dont store those trains on the holding tracks...i mean they both have farely large ones. *** Edited 8/20/2004 6:14:23 PM UTC by airtime25***

Only running 4 trains on Gemini has slowed it's capacity down tremendously. Last Sunday Gemini had a 1/2 hour wait (all queues were full). At least store the extra 2 trains on the holding tracks (as many people have already mentioned). That was always the beauty of Gemini... short waits. At least they're consistent in running both colors to race instead of shutting down one color and only running with 3 trains of the other color.

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airtime25 said:
i doubt magnums trains will ever come off the track or on the holding tracks, let alone MF's trains!

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The trains are removed every year :)

Storing trains on the track when they know very well they will never be put into use invites a great deal of criticism. "That line was so long and looks at these trains they could have put on the track."

Why would they want to do that?

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Chief Wahoo said:
Storing trains on the track when they know very well they will never be put into use invites a great deal of criticism. "That line was so long and looks at these trains they could have put on the track."

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So if the extra trains are right there on the holding track then they can be put on when the lines get long, isn't that the point, having the extra trains accessible if need be?

No, it isn't. Just because a train is on the storage track or the transfer doesn't mean it can be added to what is already on line. The ride may be running at it's maximum capacity as far as the number of trains are concerned. Usually these trains are in reserve, spares if you will, in case a problem developes with one of the sets being used. It also allows maintenance to be performed on a rotating basis, without affecting the rides capapcity.

...except that Gemini has a long history of running six trains at up to 3,600 PPH. When the thing is barely doing 1,400 and has a 45-minute wait, having two more trains *just sitting there* is a bona-fide invitation to major criticism.

Everybody who would notice idle trains also knows that Gemini can and did run six trains.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

This is sort of off the topic of "trains" but I noticed on Sunday that DD had a car sitting next to the lift shaft out of operation (DD was running 5 instead of 6). Was this also due to low capacity? DD did have a 1/2 row wait (which is considered "long" for that ride nowadays). Or was there a problem with the car?... any DD ride ops. around to answer this? *** Edited 8/20/2004 9:59:57 PM UTC by DemonDroppin'***

No argument there, Rideman. Which brings into question what are the reasons? The likelyhood of having something wrong with both sets is pretty low. Is it because the crew isn't comfortable (or capable) running six trains, or is it a middle management edict?

Dutchman - one word - airgates. With the installation of airgates, I believe it messed with the blocks and reduced it's capacity to 2 trains per track. Do a search on it.

Sorry, I had forgotten that they had done that. I don't think it messed up the blocks, just slowed down the loading process.

Airgates did not modify the blocking system.

They could still run 6 trains as easily as they could last year with the air gates. It's just a matter of timing the stupid gates right.

Yes, the blocking hasn't changed a bit. The blockheads running the ride, that's another matter. :) (It's a joke; please, no hate mail!)

Seriously, I understand that they did almost nothing to the controls, except possibly to add a co-dispatch button in parallel with the brake release on the main panel. And on the one hand that may be part of the problem. On CP's other coasters, the train comes into the station and the control system automagically parks the train, releases the lap bars, and opens the gates. Of course, most of the computers can't park a train worth $#!+, but they deal with the timing problem by automatically popping the lap bars and gates as the train stops, so there is no delay waiting for the operator to realize that the train is stopped and it is okay to open the gates now.

Gemini is still run by hand, and if it works like the other coasters, the gates are NOT operated by the controls operator. As on *ahem* certain other coasters, the secondary panel is positioned in an awkward spot, and that operator is the one who has to manage the gates AND check a bunch of lap bars and seat belts. The more I see (and I don't see that ride a lot because I can't tolerate waiting in that long line for it...) I think the whole platform retrofit needs a re-think. The exit gates are poorly positioned on the red side, the co-dispatch/gate controls are poorly positioned on both sides, and perhaps the gates should open with the lap bars. I also think they should have gone with double gates as on Millennium Force as the shorter distance would allow the gates to open faster.

If they update the controls, I fear this will all be moot because experience suggests that the computer will be set up to stop the trains on the safety brake every time and then bring them in at a crawl, making the ride barely able to run two pair, let alone three. Kind of like what we see on Mine Ride. :(

--Dave Althoff, Jr.