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Busch Gardens Williamsburg | Pantheon | Intamin LSM Coaster | 2022

Do we have any confirmation that the track work is now finished? Couple of weeks ago at the hard hat tour they were saying that the track was a day or two from completion
 
Nitefly said:
Not really sure about a ride that deliberately ups the ‘thrills’ by potentially killing you if there is a malfunction....

You could say that about any coaster of course but this one effectively teases you with a potential crash? Hmm.
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Nitefly said:
I suppose you can say the same is true with all break runs but I’m not turned on by the whole ‘switch track whilst the ride is in motion’.

I’m not put off, but I’m not attracted to it.

Clearly there is supposed to be a thrill from the switch trick but I’d rather the coaster just went round the track than bother with that.
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You know what, dude? I'm totally on board with that. I really don't like rides that torment you with certain death. I mean, yes, in a catastrophic failure almost any ride could result in certain death, but... I know exactly where you're coming from here. A high speed switch track is just an additional, and in my opinion unnecessary, thing that could go wrong. It's tempting fate a little too much for my liking. Tilt coasters are the worst offenders, what madman thought that was a good idea?
Nah, I get my thrills from going really high, really fast and going upside down lots... but dangling on a holding brake above a piece of track that isn't in place yet? Screw that.
 
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Christ, can we calm down with the "tormenting you with certain death" stuff? Do you not think this, as well as Hagrid's, has been designed to be completely safe? I'd trust these systems with my life, as you all do whenever you ride any other roller coaster. These things wouldn't get built if there was any significant risk.
 
Sod it... Few rides really ‘scare’ me these days, much more of this “Certain Death” talk and I’ll probably get a niggling doubt when faced with a high speed switch track!!! This will only bring back the feelings of my earlier coaster days, and ultimately make it more fun!!! Carry on for me!
 
Nothing is 100% safe. There's always a certain probability of getting severely injured. I guess the standards for roller coasters are very high, such that the estimated probabilities for an accident are much lower that for many other activities in every day life that are not subject to particular safety regulations. And that's all you have to make sure I think. I mean why should riding a roller coaster be (much) safer than sitting on a bench in a park?

Well, of course, this all relies on the assumption that the involved processes are thoroughly understood and any possible failure is taken into account. I now to little about the details to be able to judge this, but for me it does not appear much more risky that what is done in most of the launch coaster.

For instance, in any launch coaster the train might not manage to go over the first hill and roll back. This happens, and it's not super rare, I witnessed it. Then you fully rely on the breaks that are not there when you pass the launch. So it's also a dynamic thing if you want to. Now for Pantheon you rely on these breaks in the event that the switch is not closing properly. So it doesn't sound totally different. But ok, I know to little to really asses it, I'm just saying it's probably not a completely different level of complexity, it's just one step further. So I think (hope) this is pretty much under control.
 
Doublethink said:
Do we have any confirmation that the track work is now finished? Couple of weeks ago at the hard hat tour they were saying that the track was a day or two from completion
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Would be very interesting to know.

BTW, any guess of when Pantheon will be open? From what I see they just announced spring.
 
Peter Immelmann said:
Would be very interesting to know.

BTW, any guess of when Pantheon will be open? From what I see they just announced spring.
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Would surprise me if this isn't done for opening but we will see.... I'm pretty sure it will be ready for when I'm there mid June bar any significant technical issues
 
Nitefly said:
You could say that about any coaster of course but this one effectively teases you with a potential crash? Hmm.
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It's not very different to a transfer table. Granted the speed, usage, and switch time are increased, yes, but; it's still a track junction.
 
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Ok this is pretty easy to work out a fail safe for, I don’t understand the issue here...

the worst possible outcome is a power cut just after passing the switch for the first time (however the following will apply for any circumstance in which the switch fails to engage, as multiple sensors will be watching for this) in that situation the following will apply...

No power to the LSMs will mean they act as an arresting brake, bringing the train to a slow crawl. After the LSMs will be retractable brake fins, with a ‘home’ position of ‘always up’ (just like on almost every other intamin launcher) ONLY when they receive a safe signal from the switch track sensors will they retract and allow the train to pass... So in a power off situation, no signal will mean they remain up and the train will brake. The same will all apply if any of the sensors on the switch track fail to report a safe and locked position.

The biggest issue with this coaster will not be safety, these fail safes will be sufficient to see to that. The issue will potentially be reliability. Those sensors will all have to report as safe or the ride will stop on the launch track, any false negatives and the ride will stop. Sensors can be very temperamental.
 
Granted it's not a chain lift, but I think the already existing models have proven this to be far reliable. Besides, it's not a very complicated system compared to many others.
 
Peter Immelmann said:
Would be very interesting to know.

BTW, any guess of when Pantheon will be open? From what I see they just announced spring.
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The rumored opening date is April; I would've expected Pantheon to be ready for Busch Gardens Williamsburg's opening day (late March) with its current progress in mind, however, it seems the park will need a bit longer to test it due to the rolling transfer track system.
 
oriolat2 said:
If Hagrid can run with 7 launches, a fast switch track and two drop tracks, so can Pantheon. By now, Intamin must have mastered using this hardware...
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While Hagrid does also feature a swing launch sequence, remember that it has a block brake (the straight section right before the turn onto the launch track) in case of emergencies. Pantheon, however, does not have a block brake directly before its swing launch sequence in case of emergencies - a train in between the first launch and swing launch sequence on Pantheon has no way to stop before the swing launch if need be.
 
Kw6sTheater said:
While Hagrid does also feature a swing launch sequence, remember that it has a block brake (the straight section right before the turn onto the launch track) in case of emergencies. Pantheon, however, does not have a block brake directly before its swing launch sequence in case of emergencies - a train in between the first launch and swing launch sequence on Pantheon has no way to stop before the swing launch if need be.
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The first launch on Pantheon will act as the block section you are talking about on Hagrid in the same way. If there is an issue with the switch, the train will not launch on the first launch.
 
CrashCoaster said:
The first launch on Pantheon will act as the block section you are talking about on Hagrid in the same way. If there is an issue with the switch, the train will not launch on the first launch.
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Exactly... No way the first launch will be triggered if the second launch isn’t cleared, and switch track reset...
 
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