DC Rivals HyperCoaster train stuck mid-course

[Brendo88]

49 minutes ago, Rivals said:

I’ve never seen a pull through happen before or know how they work (clearing myself incase this is a stupid question) but, will they pull the train through all the way until the breaks, or do they just release it at a safe high point to where it’ll be able to complete? 

Once it is to the top of the loop they will release it and hopefully gravity takes care of the rest and it will finish the rest of the course as per usual. 

Very surprised to see them doing a pull through though!

[Coasterjoe]

I want to know if a pull through is actually what was recommended

[joz]

Yeah there you go! The delay makes a bit more now sense given it would take longer to get a big crane than a small one 

[Dean Barnett]

It feels like they could have finished it last week with a small crane 

[joz]

@Dean Barnett I'll let them know!

[Brad2912]

It’s quite odd seeing it sitting there stationary and fixed halfway up the non-inverting loop. 

[themagician]

Work is currently still happening on Rivals right now 

[Ashley]

45 minutes ago, themagician said:

Work is currently still happening on Rivals right now 

Has the train been retrieved yet?

Or is it still stranded on the track.

[Brad2912]

36 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Has the train been retrieved yet?

Or is it still stranded on the track.

It’s in the same spot it was in early this morning. Half way up the incline on the non-inverting loop 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Brad2912

[Dean Barnett]

[red dragin]

Disassembly wasn't an option it seems, as a pull through looks much more complicated (and risky to workers) than just strapping the train down to prevent movement then removing one carriage at a time. 

[Park Addict 93]

It’s back here this morning.

[Ashley]

Well it would seem the recovery went well. Lol

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks since the ride went down, and you may as well say nothing has been done with it.

They are right where they started 

I feel sorry for customer service, school holiday's are here, and according to their maintenance page approximately half the park is closed.

[Brad2912]

I guess we take that to mean the pull through was abandoned if they’ve let it drop back down into the valley. If they were continuing with it surely they’d have kept if fixed at whatever point in the NIL it was left at 

[Ashley]

2 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

I guess we take that to mean the pull through was abandoned if they’ve let it drop back down into the valley. If they were continuing with it surely they’d have kept if fixed at whatever point in the NIL it was left at 

Yeah, that is what I meant by "it went well". I was being sarcastic. 

 

[wikiverse]

I'm no engineer, but can't they just get Superman to push it around the rest of the track?  He does it all the time with the other coaster.

[Dean Barnett]

1 hour ago, wikiverse said:

I'm no engineer, but can't they just get Superman to push it around the rest of the track?  He does it all the time with the other coaster.

I feel like this carries more logic than the current method they're attemping. 

I know our parks aren't anything like the bohemiths of Europe and America - but when Gatekeeper valleyed at Cedar Point in 2019 (whilst loaded) they had the stuck train off the track the next day and it reopened the day after that. 

If the other DCR train is operational - I'm really perplexed why they're going with a pull through attempt .. even if you can't get 2 trains running - one train is a hella lot better than one of your people eaters being closed for a school holiday period. 

You'd only need one crane and its heaps faster than attempting a pull through.

 

[Levithian]

Yeah. Rip it off. Don't contact the manufacturer and use their advice and expertise in developing a plan or anything. Just wing it. 

[Dean Barnett]

Do we know that they asked Mack for their opinion? 

[themagician]

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

Do we know that they asked Mack for their opinion? 

We don’t, but it would be highly likely that they did. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the parks are constantly in talks with manufacturers 

[Brad2912]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

Do we know that they asked Mack for their opinion? 

Safe to assume when a major attraction has a significant issue that is both rare and unexpected that the manufacturer would be across the situation and providing advice to the park. You don’t get to the level of acclaim Mack has in the industry by wiping your hands of a $30m ride once the handover is done. 

[franky]

What's to say the other train isn't already stripped to pieces for a rebuild? If that's happening in the maintenance bay at the moment it would make it impossible to reassemble the valleyed train in there.

Fastest/easiest way to get it running again if this is/was the case would be to attempt the pull through

[Dean Barnett]

41 minutes ago, franky said:

Fastest/easiest way to get it running again if this is/was the case would be to attempt the pull through

It’s just curious that Cedar Point (yes I know it’s a different manufacturer) chose to dis and reassemble the train (which is significantly heavier and larger) and they had a ride back up in two days. We’ve passed 2 weeks. The last time the ride ran we had a Queen. 

[franky]

Gatekeeper has three trains, worst case they could have had one down for rebuild, stripped the 2nd and still had the 3rd to bring the ride back up.

CP is seasonal too though, so most maintenance would happen in the off season right? Maybe they had ample staff available on hand just to strip it/rebuild it. MW is already under the pump with rides down, so their maintenance is probably already stretched thin.

All just theories of course I'm guessing that a pull through attempt was the faster of the two ways to get the ride operating again, once a crane or two became available.

[Richard]

Everything that's being done is in full consultation and with guidance from the manufacturer. The risk aversion of both Village and Mack is almost unrivalled in this industry, so it's crazy to think that anyone is making this up as they go along or that no one thought of seemingly simple ideas such as disassembling the train.

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous it's taking this long, but everything so far suggests that this is a really tricky problem to solve. What's worked for other rides and manufacturers obviously won't work here.

They wouldn't have left it fixed halfway up the non-inverting loop after the weekend's efforts. Whether it was always intended as a dry run, or they encountered issues along the way, they're not going to walk away from cranes loaded with several tonnes of roller coaster train for any significant amount of time.

However unlikely this situation is, this might well have been a problem waiting to happen. The non-inverting loop is the slowest moment of the entire ride (45km/hr at its highest point), and the hill  preceding it is shorter in height (38.2m vs 39.3m), which effectively means that if it loses too much speed between the top of the lift hill and the top of the loop, then it's going to valley in this spot.  If the preceding hill were taller and/or the loop shorter, then each high point would effectively reset its potential energy and ability to complete the course. (Stats from here)