Valravn brake failure

Is the ride back open yet?

Weather Freak
Ride Warrior

^^ non comparable at all. You can’t take a ride out of auto and put it in manual without the control panel allowing you to do so. But I have never worked Valravn, so that could be something to look into. I’m not saying CP is perfect, but definitely worth looking into

Jordan_Vanichek said:
Is the ride back open yet?

No. I haven't seen any work or testing in the last several days.

Steve Shives
First Cedar Point Visit - 1972
Dockholder-Cedar Point Marina

Jordan_Vanichek said:
Is the ride back open yet?

I haven’t seen it run since the accident. Speaking of that, what’s up with dragster? It has been up and down like crazy throughout the week

And this is different from when??

Steve Shives
First Cedar Point Visit - 1972
Dockholder-Cedar Point Marina

***drum and bass riff starting to play in background***

Dragster....Valravn...the weather...auto...manual...

Last edited by Kevinj,

Promoter of fog.

I saw trains cycling tonight with a cherry picker underneath the final brake run.

So was the incident caused by cherries?

Mmmmm cherries are tasty... I wonder if it will go on the meal plan.

"Your persiflage does not amuse. " - Ralph (from Around the world in 80 days)

I don’t know what happened. But I know where I would start looking.
Consider that a whole lot of things have to happen before a train can enter the station. I think it’s highly unlikely that the train was ordered to enter the occupied station. But on Valravn a train is actively parked right behind the one in the station. I would expect something probably went wrong there.

—Dave Althoff, Jr.


    /X\      *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
   /XXX\     /X\     /X\_      _     /X\__      _      _____
  /XXXXX\   /XXX\   /XXXX\_   /X\   /XXXXX\    /X\    /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\_/XXXXX\_/XXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\__/XXXXXX

Valravn was once again testing today but I noticed a couple of things that make me think it had nothing to do with the breaks. I noticed while they were testing that nobody was looking at the brakes that supposedly failed. Instead I noticed people in the station evaluating and taking pictures of the track as well as at the top of the lift hill evaluating the holding block.

I don't know about anyone else but this doesn't seem normal to look at all these different aspects and not the one that supposedly failed. Another observation was only two trains were testing. BUT, not only was the third train not testing it was gone. Not even in the storage sheds. The third train it would appear has been completely removed from the track and moved somewhere off site.

To me this seems to point too maybe something wasn't wrong with the brakes but rather with the train. My thought is this, maybe something happened to the train at some point that caused the underside to get messed up and potentially damage various parts of the ride like brakes and drive tires and lift chains hints why everything was being looked at today. Perhaps also the drive tire was popped by whatever may have broken under the train and that's why it didn't stop fully.

This would help make sense as a ride being down this long after trains bump doesn't make sense for it having just been so simple when we look at past issues that are bumps or long down times:

Top Thrill Dragster a couple years ago: Down significantly after a train shreds some brakes

Millennium Force last year: Down significantly after issues with the lift motor

Steel Vengeance trains bump: Ride reopens later that day

Corkscrew trains bump: Ride reopens in a couple days

Valravn Trains bump: Ride has now been down for a good couple of weeks

Its only been speculation that it was a brake problem so we really dont know what happened. As for the 3rd train, it is in a fenced area below the brake run. You cant see it unless you are outside the park by the HR building.

Steve Shives
First Cedar Point Visit - 1972
Dockholder-Cedar Point Marina

Didn’t something happen with the holding block a couple days after the ride opened?

If Cedar Point handles the Valravn collision the same way most any park handles most any collision, they probably have (parts of) all three trains on the track, and (parts of) two trains heading for the shop...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(has not been to Cedar Point since before the incident)


    /X\      *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
   /XXX\     /X\     /X\_      _     /X\__      _      _____
  /XXXXX\   /XXX\   /XXXX\_   /X\   /XXXXX\    /X\    /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\_/XXXXX\_/XXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\__/XXXXXX

Per CP food blog: Valravn is back up and running. Running only two trains, however.

Last edited by Perpetual Obsession,

HeyIsntThatRob? said:
So was the incident caused by cherries?

Man, that would really be the pits..

I only upvoted your post because you posted in the 37th minute of the hour.

"In a row?!"

I haven’t been to the park since early June but is Valravn still only running 2 trains or is it back to 3 train operation?

It's been back to three for a while. Not sure of the date it got the third back though.

-Matt

It was running three back in late August when I was there. Not like it mattered though, crew was brutally slow and nearly each and every train stacked (train in station, train outside station, third train on final brake run) the hour I was in line. Not sure I have seen a crew so slow at CP for a major coaster, honestly.

Last edited by Invertalon,

-Steve