trim brakes

They can do several different things, depending on where the train is valleyed...

o They can remove the up-stop plates from one side of the train, take the train apart, and using a crane, remove it one car at a time and carry it back to the transfer table and put it back together again.

o They can attach a wire rope to the train, loop the wire rope over the top of the next hill, attach it to a tractor or a winch, and pull the train over the next hill.

o If the train is on the brake run and just won't go when the brakes are released, they can push it.

I've seen trains on Gemini valleyed in several different places, and while I've never watched them recover a train, I've seen evidence of all these tactics. Well, that's not totally true. I've watched them push a train off the mid-course block brake, and I watched a guy use a forklift and a wire rope to pull a train up the second hill...but I didn't hang around long enough to see how he got it disengaged.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(edit: no need to sign it twice!)
*** This post was edited by RideMan 7/30/2003 11:52:53 PM ***

thanks dude i was really wondering how they did it

that would suck to just be side by side, you are on like the blue train and the red one flys past you as you are going up a hilland you just start rolling backwards and see the red train zoom along... while you are just rolling back and forth to a stop.... that would suck alot

Oh and yes, just to clarify things, Gemini WILL BE RECIEVING AIR BRAKES this off season, so next year they will not have any problems with guests stepping over the yellow line

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TTD: 2 (Rollbacks seen: 1)
MF: 15
WT: 6
Usually at CP: every mon, tuesday, thursday
*** This post was edited by MrFat699 7/30/2003 12:18:48 PM ***
*** This post was edited by MrFat699 7/30/2003 12:22:19 PM ***

There was one day in June where I saw two interesting things happening with Gemini. First off, an empty blue train was stopped at MCB with the last car hanging down the hill. There were roughly a dozen maintenence guys up there, along with a ride op. They had the ride op manually disengage the brakes, and the maintenence guys pushed the last car over and the train got rolling again.

Later that same day, I saw three trains running on the blue side, but a red train was sitting in the middle of the helix empty. Last year I saw a red train valleyed right before the MCB.

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-Chris Woodard
"We got pop and Gatorade over here for $100 a bottle, so have your credit card ready. Seriously, the food here is so expensive, I just eat the condiments because I can't afford a meal." - MF que DJ 6/16/03