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1984 Accident?

Benzin

Benzin

TS Member
Daft thing, watching a YouTube video of some people discussing theme park accidents and it opened with an apparent accident at Alton Towers in 1984 involving a "Runaway Mine Train" where two trains collided (similarly to Smiler) but caused death.

I'm not wrong in thinking this never happened right? Google says nothing bar Corkscrew getting stuck. Did a ride of that name ever exist in those days?

Mostly so I can rant on the comments of said video.
 
Given that was nearly 10 years before the Runaway Mine Train opened I doubt it.

There was however an incident in which the Runaway Mine Train did collide in the way that was described. I think the front carriages split away and because of the tire drive system the back carriages rammed into it. But I don't think it ever resulted in a death. However I'm sure someone on here has the full details of that incident.
 
I could believe such an incident might have happened on Black Hole....?
..... But not on a coaster that has only ever had one train. ;)
 
No, never heard of that and I have taken an unhealthy interest in such incidents over the years!

It is probably AI mush that has been used as 'research'. I've noticed before AI has a tendency of attributing the date of an incident to the opening date of the ride, for example it will tell you the Space Invader incidnet at BPPB occurred in 1984 which is it's opening year rather than when it occurred in 2000, I've also seem it attribute the Battersea incident to various dates, some being decades after the park was long gone.
I can't think of anything notable from 84 at AT that would cause this though.
 
Benzin said:
Daft thing, watching a YouTube video of some people discussing theme park accidents and it opened with an apparent accident at Alton Towers in 1984 involving a "Runaway Mine Train" where two trains collided (similarly to Smiler) but caused death.

I'm not wrong in thinking this never happened right? Google says nothing bar Corkscrew getting stuck. Did a ride of that name ever exist in those days?

Mostly so I can rant on the comments of said video.
Click to expand...
the only mine train ride death I can think of is Disney (although not a collision, the wheel assembly broke causing the brake fin to collide with the brake housing sending the first car into the roof

there was a collision on RMT though, if I recall correctly one draw bar broke on it and then it rolled back into the train: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/5198728.stm

not sure what happened but I would assume the operator would have noticed half the train missing, so I am guessing the front car ??? (the article mentioned it, and I can't recall if it is driven or not) detached then this was noticed and the train was E-stopped, but the front continued one, till it reached the hill then it came back and collided, but that is a guess based on how the ride works
 
The Blackhole had an incident in April 1984, but it was not a collision between two trains and no one died.

The incident happened when one of the car 'shuddered to a halt' mid-ride. 5 people were injured and the ride was closed for about a week, but then was given the all clear. I'm not sure if they ever revealed what had caused the issue, but in early reports it was linked to the mechanism that kept the cars from leaving the track.
 
1984 was a wild time for UK theme parks, height restrictions? nah, just hold tight onto your baby and get on the ride. I have some wild photos of toddler me being on a bunch of Alton Towers rides, the old beast, the log flume. I wouldn't be surprised if accidents were so common they often went unreported.
 
The Beast didn’t open till 1988. Black Hole was open in 1984 but that definitely had a height restriction as I remember my sister going on without me.

Certainly imagine enforcement would have been much lighter in those days mind.
 
Benzin said:
Daft thing, watching a YouTube video of some people discussing theme park accidents and it opened with an apparent accident at Alton Towers in 1984 involving a "Runaway Mine Train" where two trains collided (similarly to Smiler) but caused death.

I'm not wrong in thinking this never happened right? Google says nothing bar Corkscrew getting stuck. Did a ride of that name ever exist in those days?

Mostly so I can rant on the comments of said video.
Click to expand...
Yes, this happened to me when asking ChatGPT about accidents at Towers. This ride opened in 1992, though.
 
flyingguitar said:
the only mine train ride death I can think of is Disney (although not a collision, the wheel assembly broke causing the brake fin to collide with the brake housing sending the first car into the roof

there was a collision on RMT though, if I recall correctly one draw bar broke on it and then it rolled back into the train: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/5198728.stm

not sure what happened but I would assume the operator would have noticed half the train missing, so I am guessing the front car ??? (the article mentioned it, and I can't recall if it is driven or not) detached then this was noticed and the train was E-stopped, but the front continued one, till it reached the hill then it came back and collided, but that is a guess based on how the ride works
Click to expand...


In essence the train split into 2 half’s as above, this in its own right caused a power failure to the train motors / ride estopped itself. At the track location of the train failure (possibly one of the worst possible locations) the front of the train made it up out of the Congo tunnel but didn’t clear the top, the back half of the train had already lost momentum and had started rolling back up the down hill section, when the front also decided to roll back into the Congo tunnel valley, I don’t know the exact impact point / speeds but I don’t believe that any serious injury’s resulted.

The then the attraction re-opened there were additional wire couplings in case the main drawbar failed as a secondary safety device.
 
Rob F said:
In essence the train split into 2 half’s as above, this in its own right caused a power failure to the train motors / ride estopped itself. At the track location of the train failure (possibly one of the worst possible locations) the front of the train made it up out of the Congo tunnel but didn’t clear the top, the back half of the train had already lost momentum and had started rolling back up the down hill section, when the front also decided to roll back into the Congo tunnel valley, I don’t know the exact impact point / speeds but I don’t believe that any serious injury’s resulted.

The then the attraction re-opened there were additional wire couplings in case the main drawbar failed as a secondary safety device.
Click to expand...

Here is the safety bulletin issued after the accident. Issued by MACK rides. Going in to the exact details of what parks and operators of the model need to inspect on the rides immediately, to ensure a similar accident does not repeat itself, or is close to repeating itself on another operating attraction of the same model.

Here is the engineering updates made after the accident, to the mine train model, again, issued by MACK rides, for the optional addition of a 'safety rope' that connects the vehicles together above the connecting rods. At €225 per rope, this would have cost Alton Towers €2700 to purchase, plus labour costs on top.

The rope was optional, meaning it was not forced to be retrofitted to existing rides by MACK, I am sure later models would however, have this addition as standard. I would assume the reason for not making it a mandatory update would be because they still have a lot of faith in their original engineering and calculations from the original design, even if they acknowledge that this addition adds an extra layer of safety. If MACK deemed their original design to be seriously flawed, they themselves would force this modification on the attractions / operators partly by refusing to offer ongoing technical support and spare parts to the attractions until the modifications were carried out. Essentially refusing to give their rides their safety blessings so to speak, almost like a car's MOT / ongoing lifetime support, but specifically from the manufacturer. They did not however did this, as they clearly had faith in the original design. I mean, this is fine German engineering after all .

It is also highly likely that it was made to be mandatory in the UK for these models considering the accident happened here, not by the manufacturer but by the UK regulatory bodies. This does not and will not mean it is mandatory in other countries though.
 
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I am sure there was an accident on the Alton Mouse in the 80s which involved two vehicles colliding. Could that be what they are referring to? I can't seem to find anything at the moment so I might be misremembering.
 
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