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Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
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Why does wood rot only seem to happen to the pre-fabs, I wonder? If I'm remembering correctly, wasn't Colossos at Heide originally closed down for similar reasons?
The article says that due to a construction error (or design error, the term can mean both things), water has been accumulating underneath the rails of the coaster, causing rot. Presumably, it's the running strips of metal or possibly the glue laminate that causes the problem: water can seep into wood through capillary forces, but the structure needs to be able to dry out again to prevent rot. For one reason or another, the coaster rails were not able to dry properly, and rot set in. The cost of replacing the rails is quoted as 30 million SEK, or about £3 million.
 

Christian

Hyper Poster
The article says that due to a construction error (or design error, the term can mean both things), water has been accumulating underneath the rails of the coaster, causing rot. Presumably, it's the running strips of metal or possibly the glue laminate that causes the problem: water can seep into wood through capillary forces, but the structure needs to be able to dry out again to prevent rot. For one reason or another, the coaster rails were not able to dry properly, and rot set in. The cost of replacing the rails is quoted as 30 million SEK, or about £3 million.

This is sad but Liseberg seem committed to fix Balder.

I find it interesting that it's rotting now. If it is a construction/design fault it should have rotted before. The article is fairly vague on what specific issue there is other than that all rail is destroyed and the ride needs a complete retracking.
 

cookie

Giga Poster
Balder closed until the end of Summer at the earliest for retracking due to wood rot
All the more reason for me to delay my annual-ish visit to Halloween again. I figured something was up when it was closed all of Fall last year. Guess Colossos wasn’t an isolated incident.
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Possibly something to keep an eye: Walibi Belgium are having problems with their neighbours.

(sorry for the ooooooo source)

In short:
-Walibi Belgium had issues with their neighbours in the past (which caused problems with investments in the late 00s / early 2010s)
-In 2018, the park had a new permit which allowed an increase in the ambient noise the park could produce (from 55dB to 60dB), as well as some extra noise allowed in the evenings for events.
-This permit has now been revoked, follows complaints from locals.


What this means, I don't know. If, theoretically, newer rides which cause noise which exceeds the old ambient noise level, I wonder if that could cause some operations issues for those rides? Or if it will just end up affecting opening hours?

So yeah, maybe something to keep an eye on.
Maybe our resident Walibi Belgium expert has more of an idea @KristofWB ?
 
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