Why Close Last Car?
I have a question for all of you CP and roller coaster experts. Why does CP not allow people to sit in the very last car of a train during a slow day? I have seen them do this several times, mostly on the Gemini, Mean Streak and Mine Ride. I like to ride on the last car on these rides and it kind of irritates me when I can’t. Maybe it has nothing to do with the attendance and there is another reason. Thanks.
Yes, a little of both. Mean Streak and Gemini can both get into trouble if all the weight is in the back of the train, though it isn't as bad as I may have just suggested. :) On Gemini, they shut down the back of the trains so that people will move down the platform instead of bunching up on the stairway. I think that is also why they close the front entrance...keeps the front of the train available without the crowd spilling down the ramp. Seat belts are another reason...every belt has to be fastened even if the seat is empty because otherwise the belts become hazards to the safe operation of the ride. Related to that is the problem of closing lap bars which are left open by departing riders and not closed by entering riders.
Notice that on Blue Streak, the crew (at least in the last two years) will often close the *middle* car of the train instead of the back, since riders tend to be happier that way. I think after the disaster of 1996, CP decided to put coaster nuts on that crew so that they could at least partially salvage the ride's good name. Notice that they never close off cars on Iron Dragon? Notice also that on Iron Dragon, the shoulder bars all pop open automatically, whether or not the seat is occupied?
The question remains: Why close the last car(s) instead of the middle car(s)?
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Not only did they modify the trains on Blue Streak in 1996, they also staffed the ride with (mostly) operators who would have been more at home at Kings Island. Anybody else remember "Buster"? In 1996, the Blue Streak got the crummy trains, a lousy crew, a computer system that wasn't designed or programmed right (anybody else remember the catapult stops on EVERY CYCLE and the fact that it was IMPOSSIBLE to run the ride on interval unless the trains were empty?) and every time I visited the ride was down mechanical for more than half of the day. If that ride didn't generate a record number of complaints that year, then clearly CP customers really *don't* care.
Some members of that crew didn't last very long; by the end of the season there were some improvements. Since then, the computer has been reprogrammed, the timing has been fixed, additional calipers have been added to the block/trim brake, and they got the downtime issue under control. Best of all, the ride is staffed entirely by coaster nuts, who have done a fairly good job of making the best of a bad situation.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Some members of that crew didn't last very long; by the end of the season there were some improvements. Since then, the computer has been reprogrammed, the timing has been fixed, additional calipers have been added to the block/trim brake, and they got the downtime issue under control. Best of all, the ride is staffed entirely by coaster nuts, who have done a fairly good job of making the best of a bad situation.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
The only time it bothers me is when the ride starts to get a line when they are doing that or when they just close a side on Gemini and leave three trains on the other. I like to sit in back, but I don't mind a little change.
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AKA: bodyin thewaterball fountain.
Paddlewheel Excursions: 12
Jokes on PE: 120
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AKA: bodyin thewaterball fountain.
Paddlewheel Excursions: 12
Jokes on PE: 120
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