Big Dipper accident, Geauga Lake (news article)
Dana Schwartz
The Associated Press
9/27/99 10:26 AM
AURORA, Ohio (AP) -- Two linked roller coaster cars bumped each other
on Geauga Lake amusement park's "Big Dipper," slightly injuring three
riders.
It was not clear how the cars of the two-car coaster train bumped on
Sunday night, or at what point during the ride it happened, park
spokeswoman Shannon D'Sidocky said today.
The park took one person to the hospital. The others said they didn't
need help and apparently went on their own, she said.
They were treated at St. Luke's Medical Center and were released,
WEWS-TV reported. The names were not available.
The park is 20 miles east of Cleveland.
Four people were killed last month in accidents at Gillian's
Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, N.J., Paramount King's Dominion near
Richmond, Va., Paramount's Great America Theme Park in Santa Clara,
Calif.
***************
Dana Schwartz
doo...@ix.netcom.com
Pete Babic
says...
> AURORA, Ohio (AP) -- Two linked roller coaster cars bumped each other
> on Geauga Lake amusement park's "Big Dipper," slightly injuring three
> riders.
>
> It was not clear how the cars of the two-car coaster train bumped on
> Sunday night, or at what point during the ride it happened, park
> spokeswoman Shannon D'Sidocky said today.
This sounds like maybe both the coupler and the safety chains broke, and
then the cars collided during the brake run? Just a thought.
Matt Crowther
(Pete Babic) wrote:
I hope that the trains are not blamed for this incident, since this park
is a rare instance of having an ACE Coaster Classic at a corporate theme
park. Frontier City took out their Classic NAD trains this year, and the
inevitable switch to a more modern train (with ratceting bars) at GL may
just have been accelerated. I hope they request trains with three seat
cars, (if they do switch) because I think that two seaters would not give
you quite the same feeling on this coaster.
Matt
Dave Althoff
: In article <7soalo$g...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>, doo...@ix.netcom.com
: says...
: > AURORA, Ohio (AP) -- Two linked roller coaster cars bumped each other
: > on Geauga Lake amusement park's "Big Dipper," slightly injuring three
: > riders.
: >
: > It was not clear how the cars of the two-car coaster train bumped on
: > Sunday night, or at what point during the ride it happened, park
: > spokeswoman Shannon D'Sidocky said today.
: This sounds like maybe both the coupler and the safety chains broke, and
: then the cars collided during the brake run? Just a thought.
Actually, from the description, it sounds like perhaps the coupler *but
not the safety chains* broke, allowing the cars to collide with one
another, most likely on the trim brake at the end of the ride when the
lead car hits the brake and the rest of the train hasn't quite got there yet.
Still just guessing.
Scratching my head over a park being able to have a collision with only
one train...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
--
/^\ _ _ *** Still open weekends!!! ***
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Matt Crowther
<crowthenospam-2...@user-38lcjva.dialup.mindspring.com>,
crowth...@ix.netcom.com (Matt Crowther) wrote:
> I hope that the trains are not blamed for this incident, since this park
> is a rare instance of having an ACE Coaster Classic at a corporate theme
> park. Frontier City took out their Classic NAD trains this year, and the
> inevitable switch to a more modern train (with ratceting bars) at GL may
> just have been accelerated. I hope they request trains with three seat
> cars, (if they do switch) because I think that two seaters would not give
> you quite the same feeling on this coaster.
>
> Matt
A follow-up to my previous post...as far as I can tell, they only two
parks that are in large corporate chains that have full-sized ACE Coaster
Classic woodies are Valleyfair and Geauga Lake...
Matt
Tim Melago
> I hope that the trains are not blamed for this incident, since this park
> is a rare instance of having an ACE Coaster Classic at a corporate theme
> park. Frontier City took out their Classic NAD trains this year, and the
> inevitable switch to a more modern train (with ratceting bars) at GL may
> just have been accelerated. I hope they request trains with three seat
> cars, (if they do switch) because I think that two seaters would not give
> you quite the same feeling on this coaster.
I was nervous about the trains before the accident with the major
changes
coming around the Big Dipper area. Six Flags parks don't have NAD trains
and big ol' brake levers on their coasters. It's probably just a matter
of time unfortunately and the ride will probably not be the same when
it happens. Hopefully this won't be the excuse they need to do it
sooner. I agree that three seaters are needed to give the great
airtime the coaster is capable of delivering.
--
Tim Melago - roll...@sgi.net
http://users.sgi.net/~rollocst/rc.html
Tim Melago
> Scratching my head over a park being able to have a collision with only
> one train...
Yeah, I thought they actually were running two trains. What a crazy
thought. This is a GL woodie we're talking about.
Dave Althoff
: Dave Althoff wrote:
: > Scratching my head over a park being able to have a collision with only
: > one train...
: Yeah, I thought they actually were running two trains. What a crazy
: thought. This is a GL woodie we're talking about.
Yeah, go figure. They will run two trains every day on the Double Loop,
with its 80-second ride and 75-second dispatch interval with no room for
error and with one crew person missing. But Big Dipper, with separate
load and unload stations, an extra crew person, and an almost two minute
ride time can't run two trains. And it isn't the lack of a computer,
either...Raging Wolf Bobs has that computer, and it doesn't run two
trains, either.
I don't understand it. Geauga Lake moves people faster than Cedar Point
on their steel coasters (except Serial Thriller) and slower than Kings
Island on their wood coasters. Must be a Northern Ohio thing or something.
Pete Babic
says...
> Pete Babic (p...@po.cwru.edu) wrote:
>
> : This sounds like maybe both the coupler and the safety chains broke, and
> : then the cars collided during the brake run? Just a thought.
>
> Actually, from the description, it sounds like perhaps the coupler *but
> not the safety chains* broke, allowing the cars to collide with one
> another, most likely on the trim brake at the end of the ride when the
> lead car hits the brake and the rest of the train hasn't quite got there yet.
>
> Still just guessing.
Well, I thought of that also, but would the distance between the cars,
when attached with the safety chains, be enough to cause a collision
strong enough to cause injury? I don't know if it would, as the cars
would only be maybe a foot apart. I was thinking more along the lines of
the lead car being five or six feet ahead of the second car.
--
Pete Babic
Paul and Carrie Drabek
Dave Althoff <dal...@gcfn.org> wrote in message >
> Scratching my head over a park being able to have a collision with only
> one train...
>
It reminds me of the Accident on the American Eagle at SFGAM a couple of
years ago where a single train had a collision with itself.
Paul B. Drabek
raven...@yahoo.com
Negative G Coaster Photos
http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Ridge/8441/
Shawn Mamros
>Well, I thought of that also, but would the distance between the cars,
>when attached with the safety chains, be enough to cause a collision
>strong enough to cause injury? I don't know if it would, as the cars
>would only be maybe a foot apart. I was thinking more along the lines of
>the lead car being five or six feet ahead of the second car.
Wasn't there a similar incident a few years back at another park? (I
keep wanting to say it was the American Eagle, but my memory's been
faulty before...) It was another case of a train coupler failing,
back car slamming into front when the front hit a brake section,
and there were injuries in that case too. (Think of riders being
thrown forward into lapbars when the back car comes to a more-sudden-
than-usual stop against the front car.)
-Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mam...@mit.edu