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The Smiler - General Discussion

Take off the tin foil hat Diogo, its just that no one really knows what's going on ;).

The park will never officially release a statement with the intricacies, so we are simply having to use knock out factors to ascertain the most likely scenario.

*Personal observation*:

I did, however, notice that the statement doesn't specifically say no one was injured? Maybe I've got my own tin foil hat on?! :/

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We know that Merlin parks do everything they can to limit the spread of information about "incidents". There's nothing paranoid about pointing that out.
 
Apparently we're waiting on Gerstlauer to give the all clear on it to reopen...

Unfortunately, they're a tad preoccupied in Texas, where a person flying out is given higher priority than a singular bolt where I would hope such a factor of safety would be applied to mean one bolt wouldn't cause instant failure...

So unsurprisingly if it's ready to go, all that was needed was a new bolt fitted, few checks done and that's it... A fair difference to down for weeks then...
 
GaryH said:
With regards the bolt hitting someone, im not sure if it did or didnt, im sitting on the fence, im just thinking if it did hit a kid, then surely the mum would have it all over the press by now.....
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my point exactly :twirly:
 
DiogoJ42 said:
We know that Merlin parks do everything they can to limit the spread of information about "incidents". There's nothing paranoid about pointing that out.
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No pictures of The Smiler until further notice! ;)
 
Re: the boy getting injured

Is it possible Lisa what your partner overheard was a different incident? It's just that none of the other reports have mentioned someone being hurt, in fact the more sensationalist ones seem to highlight how close a miss it was (therefore implying it didn't hit anyone).

But at the same time I don't doubt that your partner overheard something... I'm just not sure if it was that incident related or a more common place incident that sounded similar?

ps. thanks for the pictures, very good quality :)
 
Just catching up on this.

It's very worrying that this may have only been brought to the attention of the ops because of a member of the public. Twice I have been in a position in Towers where I have had to personally hand back parts to the operators that have just dropped next to me.
Whilst these could all have caused serious injury I wonder what might happen if there wasn't a member of the public there to inform the operators? The ride would just continue to run, potentially causing a much bigger problem?

If there are nets installed over the queue, will these be checked regularly for loose bits of coaster amongst the sunglasses and packets of chewits?
 
Benzin said:
Apparently we're waiting on Gerstlauer to give the all clear on it to reopen...

Unfortunately, they're a tad preoccupied in Texas, where a person flying out is given higher priority than a singular bolt where I would hope such a factor of safety would be applied to mean one bolt wouldn't cause instant failure...
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I very much doubt Gerstlauer have sent out their entire employed staff to Texas. :/
 
Tim said:
Re: the boy getting injured

Is it possible Lisa what your partner overheard was a different incident? It's just that none of the other reports have mentioned someone being hurt, in fact the more sensationalist ones seem to highlight how close a miss it was (therefore implying it didn't hit anyone).

But at the same time I don't doubt that your partner overheard something... I'm just not sure if it was that incident related or a more common place incident that sounded similar?

ps. thanks for the pictures, very good quality :)
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I have talked to my partner about it and he said that it could be that the woman in Guest Services was exaggerating to get more out of the park. It's taking someone's word for it I suppose, unless the person does come forward or go to the press there is no proof.
 
Alastair said:
Benzin said:
Apparently we're waiting on Gerstlauer to give the all clear on it to reopen...

Unfortunately, they're a tad preoccupied in Texas, where a person flying out is given higher priority than a singular bolt where I would hope such a factor of safety would be applied to mean one bolt wouldn't cause instant failure...
Click to expand...

I very much doubt Gerstlauer have sent out their entire employed staff to Texas. :/
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I doubt all of their staff have the ability to sign a ride off...

Passing on what I've heard, that simple really... It does make sense considering how quickly it's taken other examples of this kind of incident to get going again...
 
TheMan said:
Any updates at all? Where are the moles & spies?!
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I've read a bit more info from a user on a different forum. Do you want me to post it or post a link to the forum? They are still working on it but looking at the track now.
 
No way will they spend £18million and then tear it down over a bolt, they will investigate and just use uprated bolts perhaps.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
We know that Merlin parks do everything they can to limit the spread of information about "incidents". There's nothing paranoid about pointing that out.
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Thorpe Park do that better than anyone. Detonator anybody? :p
 
Looking at tweets with #altontowers on twitter, it appears The Smiler will be opening today. A queue has been allowed to build and The Marmaliser effects are switched on. Maybe it was a simple fix after all.
 
I notice that the hashtag I added on facebook on Sunday is now working again. It was de-linked from Sunday until today.
 
lisadj said:
I notice that the hashtag I added on facebook on Sunday is now working again. It was de-linked from Sunday until today.
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How do you mean? Hashtags can't be disabled for specific things, as it's a phrase that anyone can use! In what way do you mean 'de-linked'?

On topic, with The Smiler now being open once more, are we to assume that this has been resolved in-house, with no need for the manufacturer to come over?
 
New bolt from whoever supplies Gerst and then test, test, test and get it signed off by HSE I presume?
 
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