Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted Boom
- Thread starter tomahawk
- Start date
rollermonkey
Strata Poster
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
I think the humor is in that a park "under construction" in Poland is advertising a ride in the US on its Bookface page?
I think the humor is in that a park "under construction" in Poland is advertising a ride in the US on its Bookface page?
reddude333
Giga Poster
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
Lol, and at the ball-breaker! I love it!
Lol, and at the ball-breaker! I love it!
reddude333
Giga Poster
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
What do they have in the station? I would guess it's just because this allows for better control of the train...then again, in light of what happened...
What do they have in the station? I would guess it's just because this allows for better control of the train...then again, in light of what happened...
Martyn B
CF Legend
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
Its odd and I would like to know the reason why.
They went to the effort to have brakes on the exit to the station/entrance to the Cobra Roll, in case the train was released from the tower early, so why not just have them in the station to act as brake run as well? That's exactly what they done with the standard Boomerangs....
You can see them on this picture:
Its odd and I would like to know the reason why.
They went to the effort to have brakes on the exit to the station/entrance to the Cobra Roll, in case the train was released from the tower early, so why not just have them in the station to act as brake run as well? That's exactly what they done with the standard Boomerangs....
You can see them on this picture:
rollermonkey
Strata Poster
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
OK.
I was a qualified operator at 6FGAm for the Deja Vu there. I even got to be on the crew closing night, and rode it with the other rides employees after ACE said their farewell.
Here's how a GIB works:
The catch car from tower one runs on a set of rails inside the main track, much like on any Intamn accelerator. On that catch car is a single friction brake. It grabs the brake fin on the train and is hauled backwards out of the station. When it gets to the top, it releases the train.
Over on tower two is another catch car with a single friction brake. As the train approaches, the catch car starts to move, and matches the speed of the train as the brake fin lines up in position with the catch car. It's actually a pretty cool feat of timing. The brake closes on the fin as they have zero relative speed, and the train gets pulled up tower two, and is released again.
On the second the up tower one, the catch car pulls the same trick tower two just did again. I have no idea why the train has to go all the way up and can't be just caught and lowered.
Anywho, the valley brakes between the loop and tower two are so a valleying train can be stopped at a known, fixed position with a platform to reach the train without a man lift or fire truck.
There are no brakes in the station because one, it would be in the way of the catch car (both catch cars catch the same fin) and two, if the train valleys there, you can just lift the floor, push the train by hand into position and unload.
With all these moving brakes and flying catches and whatnot, it's no wonder the thing can't be run in the cold, or the rain, or too much wind, or if the Coaster Gods are mad, or whatever. Cool idea, horrible execution. They should have just stuck with the declutching lift chains, but maybe the bigger, heavier new trains are too much for the chain dogs?
OK.
I was a qualified operator at 6FGAm for the Deja Vu there. I even got to be on the crew closing night, and rode it with the other rides employees after ACE said their farewell.
Here's how a GIB works:
The catch car from tower one runs on a set of rails inside the main track, much like on any Intamn accelerator. On that catch car is a single friction brake. It grabs the brake fin on the train and is hauled backwards out of the station. When it gets to the top, it releases the train.
Over on tower two is another catch car with a single friction brake. As the train approaches, the catch car starts to move, and matches the speed of the train as the brake fin lines up in position with the catch car. It's actually a pretty cool feat of timing. The brake closes on the fin as they have zero relative speed, and the train gets pulled up tower two, and is released again.
On the second the up tower one, the catch car pulls the same trick tower two just did again. I have no idea why the train has to go all the way up and can't be just caught and lowered.
Anywho, the valley brakes between the loop and tower two are so a valleying train can be stopped at a known, fixed position with a platform to reach the train without a man lift or fire truck.
There are no brakes in the station because one, it would be in the way of the catch car (both catch cars catch the same fin) and two, if the train valleys there, you can just lift the floor, push the train by hand into position and unload.
With all these moving brakes and flying catches and whatnot, it's no wonder the thing can't be run in the cold, or the rain, or too much wind, or if the Coaster Gods are mad, or whatever. Cool idea, horrible execution. They should have just stuck with the declutching lift chains, but maybe the bigger, heavier new trains are too much for the chain dogs?
rollermonkey
Strata Poster
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
Oh, and as far as what happened at 6FNE up there? I got no clue. I've seen tower one and tower two mismatches, and a half dozen other faults, but that's a funny one. It happens on both towers, though, and maintenance usually just resets the thing and it finishes from wherever it occurred.
Since it's still at a 6F park, they probably are still working with the original programming. Silverwood got Vekoma to come in and redo theirs. Supposedly they have a lot less problems now.
Oh, and as far as what happened at 6FNE up there? I got no clue. I've seen tower one and tower two mismatches, and a half dozen other faults, but that's a funny one. It happens on both towers, though, and maintenance usually just resets the thing and it finishes from wherever it occurred.
Since it's still at a 6F park, they probably are still working with the original programming. Silverwood got Vekoma to come in and redo theirs. Supposedly they have a lot less problems now.
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
Re: Six Flags New England |"Goliath"| Vekoma Giant Inverted
^Vekoma was just looking for another innovation to add to roller coasters. All they were doing was asking themselves what could make a system better or what system could be better than the current. We see this happen on countless other rides: Intamin's restraints, for example. Obviously, the engineers at Vekoma were wrong and their idea wasn't an improvement over the clutch lift chains. As Rollermonkey said, it's a cool idea, but it sounds like it could have been engineered better or thought through more.
^Vekoma was just looking for another innovation to add to roller coasters. All they were doing was asking themselves what could make a system better or what system could be better than the current. We see this happen on countless other rides: Intamin's restraints, for example. Obviously, the engineers at Vekoma were wrong and their idea wasn't an improvement over the clutch lift chains. As Rollermonkey said, it's a cool idea, but it sounds like it could have been engineered better or thought through more.