Under the Station

Anyone have any pictures under the station. Also, how do the trains move through the stations and how does the the catchwagon connect under the fifth car?

No such pictures from me, but from what I could see, it doesn't look like it is very interesting down there anyway. As for the catchwagon...
At the back end of the catchwagon there is a sleeved pin with a gap ahead of and behind it. Under the center of the train is a more-or-less standard chain dog. Remember how a chain dog works: it's an over-running clutch. If the chain moves forward or the train moves backwards, the dogs will catch on the chain. If the train moves forward or the chain moves backwards, the dogs will disengage and allow relative motion. Okay, so instead of several sets of chain dogs, the Millennium Force train only has one. And instead of a chain with lots of links in it, there is a catchwagon with only one. With the train in position in the station, the catchwagon can pass freely backward beneath the chain dogs, but when it pulls forward, the dogs engage and the train moves forward and up the hill.

In the station, the trains are moved (and stopped!) by pneumatic tires driven by small electric motors. These tires rub against a plate on the bottom of each car. The drive wheels are spaced not quite as far apart as the length of the train, so that from the time the train reaches its parking space on the block brake until shortly after it starts to pull out of the loading station, it is in contact with at least one advancing wheel.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Um... Dave... Yet again you AMAZE me with your extensive knowledge. You've amazed me since CP Place was founded...

I look up to you... Teach me o wise one... Write a book! Please. I'll be the first to buy a copy.

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-The Pants Has Spoken
"Yellow line? What Yellow Line..."

From what I've read, on his site as well as my short time here, it is a book !!!. It's more interesting and useful (to me anyway) than this $500 pile of books that sits besides me. I wish I took a class that included texts like The Adventures of Rideman and Rideman's Guide to Mechanical Devices on Coaster's, Second Edition.

A page was missing out of my book (I bought it used) so I have to ask a question. Just how good are the tires at stopping the train? I doubt they be of much use if the earth's magnetic field flips and the brakes don't work, or if it's just raining.

I just asked myself another question, what would happen to MF's brakes if the magnetic field flipped again? Probably nothing since + would turn -, and - would +. I maybe just answered my own question .



*** This post was edited by Joe E. on 2/16/2001. ***

Dave, where is your web page?

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- Raptor Dave

The brakes can't flip their magnetic poles.. If you look they are NOT electro magnets.. They are natural rare earth magnets.. The brake system is not reliant on electricity to stop. They DO require it to disengage the second set of mag brakes. Much like B&M and Arrow and Morgan's all need electricity to power the pneumatic brakes they use. No power.. no pressure.. brakes spring back to thier normally closed position..

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MF 2000 - 269 laps

MF 2001 - ???????

Red Garter Rob, I believe Joe E. is referring to a phenomenon that geologists can tell you about...there is evidence that every few million years, the Earth's magnetic field reverses. I've never understood that myself, as it doesn't look like the poles simply rotate around; the evidence shows a more sudden change than that.
Anyway, I'm not sure that such a reversal would affect magnets on the surface anyway. A compass would go absolutely nuts during the changeover, and would then point south, but I have no idea what might happen to 'ordinary' magnets...

By the way...most pneumatic brakes are pressure-open/spring close so that if there is a loss of either electric power or air pressure, the brakes close. An exception to the rule is Arrow. Their brakes require air pressure (but not electric power) to close. Arrow compensates for this by operating the calipers off of a reserve tank, and by using more calipers...and putting adjacent calipers on separate reserve tanks. Kind of like running your computer off of a UPS.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(Oh...almost forgot...)
http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff

Why don't they use the default-on set-up?

"They" meaning "Arrow"? Next time you ride one of their coasters, take a close look at the brake calipers. They are very simple...there is a fixed steel frame and a pair of brake pads held out from the frame by a leaf spring. Stuffed in between the brake pad and the frame is an airbag that looks a bit like a piece of fire-hose, sealed at one end and connected to an air hose at the other. Aside from being mechanically simple, the other benefit I can think of to this system is that the braking force can be varied by changing the air pressure. That's my guess, anyway.

I did notice that on Tennessee Tornado there are two different types of brakes in place in the station...at the downtrack end of the station there is one brake caliper that looks a lot like the ones used on CCI coasters, presumably as a safety brake or parking brake. Also, I noticed that Son of Beast has what appears to be a pressure-applied brake just uptrack of the station, probably specifically because the braking force can be varied by changing the air pressure.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

From what I've learned about magnetic field's, geologist came up with this theory because magnets have different charge's according to the date they were born. Perhaps the rare magnets on the Force were formed during a mute period when the field was changing. When it does flip though, Magnetic north would hence become magnetic south, west or whatever.

So if this were to happen, planes would be crashing all around the Force why it's quietly running a safe 3 train operation.

Is there a safety then, besides the redundancies?

During polar reversals, the Earth's magnetic field gradually decreases in strength by a factor of about 10 over a period of a few thousand years. Nearly 170 reversals have been identified during the last 76 million years, and the present magnetic orientation has existed for 780,000 years.

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Brandon Sorc
Millennium Force count:67
www.spiritofthepoint.com

...Which, frighteningly enough, means that we're about 400,000 years overdue for another reversal, doesn't it?
Bill...you mean the Arrow brake situation (hey, this is getting confusing...)? The brake pressure comes from a pressure tank, not straight from the air delivery system, and the "apply" valve is held closed electrically. So if air pressure fails, there is still enough air in the tank to close the brake, and if the electric fails, the valve opens and closes the brake. That is the protection against system failures; protection from component failure comes from the redundancy.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yikes, I'm getting Millennium Force to be safe!

Even if the magnets reversed polarities, everything should still work fine. Opposites would still attract and all. =)

Yeah, but wouldn't the brakes on MF work more like the LIM's on Superman: The Escape?

I thought I was crazy over CP.

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Live for FUN!

GO SHAMROCKS!
GO WOLVERINES!

CP_Bound,
No because the polarities would simply change on both the train and the brakes. So instead of the North polarities pushing the North polarities, the South polarities would push the South polarities.

Interesting conversation you guys are having!

*Under the station there resides two storage rooms(?) the rides visual board, and (I think) Millennium Force's control system. *

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Imagine if Millennium Force trains were in that FedEx plane. *** This post was edited by Magnum is sinking! on 2/24/2001. ***

Actually, Magnum is sinking!, there are no magnets on the train...just a metal fin. The magnetic flux in the fin is induced by the permanent magnets on the brake calipers. That said, you are correct that reversal of the magnet polarities would have no effect on the braking.
I'd still like to know whether a terrestrial pole reversal would cause any change in permanent magnets such as those used on Millennium Force.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(fixed the POPCode) *** This post was edited by RideMan on 2/24/2001. ***

I suspect we'll need to see one occur before we know just how they work.