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2016: The Smiler Reopening

Will you ride in 2016?

  • Yes

    Votes: 147 94.8%

  • No

    Votes: 8 5.2%
  • Total voters
    155
Poisson said:
Can we have the other two trains out to play on the weekends soon? 4 in the week and 3 on weekends is strange
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It makes no sense to me that they're doing this, especially when weekends are usually busier. Then again, it is school trip season at the moment, which might explain things somewhat.
 
I suppose that makes a little sense. At least with less people riding it won't affect the queues too much whilst they get used to four train operation. It was only running three trains today, and stacking, though. Didn't look an easy day for The staff though. the guest illnesses and birdstrikes (I'm still finding feathers in my hood :p) probably didnt help them.

If anyone cares, this is more about that "difficult conversation":
Leah said:
And you not too wrong with what my conversation with my dad was about tbh. I tried to come out. The pigeon kind of ruined the moment and is probably a really bad omen, so I decided not to :p
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Somthing hates me today.
 
Hmmm, I don't believe in fate or omens as such, but it was probably a good distraction. Not sure a day out at a theme park is the best place for such a conversation. But good luck with it when the time is right!

(Back on topic) Any idea if the birdstrike hit the riders? I'd imagine getting a face full of avian entrails can't be very fun. Not to mention it wouldn't look very good when they got back to the station! I'm amazed it didn't get in the papers tbh. They must be too busy branding people who want to vote out as racists to keep an eye on Towers at the moment.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Hmmm, I don't believe in fate or omens as such, but it was probably a good distraction. Not sure a day out at a theme park is the best place for such a conversation. But good luck with it when the time is right!
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I don't belive in anything like that, but if seconds before the words are about to come out of your mouth a pigeon gets smashed above your head, I think that just means I should stop. I just want to say in a public place so they can't react badly :p

DiogoJ42 said:
Any idea if the birdstrike hit the riders? I'd imagine getting a face full of avian entrails can't be very fun. Not to mention it wouldn't look very good when they got back to the station! I'm amazed it didn't get in the papers tbh. They must be too busy branding people who want to vote out as racists to keep an eye on Towers at the moment.
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I didn't actually see the strike itself, but it sounded like a turkey being shot through a cannon into a fan it hit the front railings on the train. Would probably still be covered in blood/feathers though, but the way the staff got on the phone instantly and what he said sounded like they have procedures in place for birdstrikes. Not sure if the ride reopened after that though, didnt see it.
 
Birdstrikes? That's a new one for me at Towers. Never heard of such an incident there before! I guess the local birds have got used to living around high velocity chunks of metal.
 
Leah said:
Was just walking past the smiler (just about to have a very difficult conversation with my dad, actually, so at least I avoided that), heard a bang above my head, looked up and a load of feathers landed on me. Do bird strikes happen often? Or am I just really unlucky to be walking under it at the time.
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They are rare but not too unusual. I saw a pigeon decapitated by Knightmare at Camelot a few years back! Of course bird strikes can be a lot worse, just ask Fabio Lanzoni...!

buschgardens-fabio-roller-coaster-1999apr.jpg


:)
 
I witnessed the aftermath of one on The Smiler a few years back. Stealth has to be the most notorious for this though.
 
If I'm not mistaken the 4th train is very close to taking guests, the 3 trains are lined up, 1 in the station 1 in the waiting point behind the station and 1 on transfer plus one on the outside storage track.
 
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Indeed, and the new train waiting to go is numbered as train 4. I wonder if they also have a new train 3 hiding away in the maintenance shed!

:)
 
I don't think both 3 and 4 were in the shed together as there would be no space if 1, 2 or 5 needed to g off, it's so shiny. The big question how well will it ride.
 
Rick said:
I am still a little shocked it's an entirely new train, but whatever.
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The trains involved in the crash would be write-offs. Even in the halves of the trains that weren't crumpled, the shock of impact could have caused all manner of fatigue and dammage. The only safe option is all new trains.
 
Not to mention the complete PR disaster that could unfold if the trains got involved in another accident and were found to be rehashed ones of the previously crashed trains!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
The trains involved in the crash would be write-offs. Even in the halves of the trains that weren't crumpled, the shock of impact could have caused all manner of fatigue and dammage. The only safe option is all new trains.
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You think? That hasn't been the case for a lot of other rides, granted perhaps colissions didn't occur at this speed. I'd have thought the front train would be relatively unscathed, particularly the front cars. I know for a fact that hasn't happened on a couple of Arrow hypers that have taken a bump, again at a slower speed.

There would be a lot of hardware you could remove from the damaged trains - the front one especially, restraints, seating etc, but perhaps they opted not to. Those trains are built on a chassis that launches on other rides, they're pretty heavily built and designed for sudden accelleration/deceleration, albeit not in this uncontrolled manner.

Footnote. I am not an engineer.
 
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