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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Alsty said:
Pumping the trains out? Have they sorted the speed of the train through the brakes?

We were seeing about 600pph yesterday.
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Apparently @GooseOnTheLoose got around 920pph earlier in the week, so I think higher throughputs are possible.

I wouldn’t mind betting that the reliability issues may have had some bearing on the throughput yesterday.
 
Managed to get two rides on Hyperia today. I probably have way less coaster experience than a lot on here but for me I'd say best coaster I have ridden, only negative unsurprisingly is that it is a little too short. Operations were top notch, when we were queuing they were probably getting the trains out every minute or so - I'm not sure they could go any quicker than they were. Queue was 210 minutes when we arrived not long after 10am, but generally hovered around 75-90 minutes most of the day. Closed randomly for a little bit around 3:30pm but apart from that it was all good.

Edit. Forgot to say, was 2nd row on first go (daughter and missus got front row on first ever ride), and was 5th row on second go. Felt slightly faster and more intense on 5th row.
 
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From what I've read on here, my experience in developing safety-critical control systems, and looking at the POV videos, I can take an educated guess at the problems encountered on Sat. Like most coasters, it's developed on a "trains+1" track block system - so 2 trains, 3 blocks - where you can't enter the track block unless it's clear AND you can't exit it unless the next block is clear:
- BLOCK A - (on track to) brake run
- BLOCK B - station
- BLOCK C - lift hill

Basically places on track where you have 100% control of the train. Making the lift hill a block means you don't need space for an extra brake block at the end (like Stealth), but you can in theory launch from the station before the train has reached the brake run.

From others' observations, if due to weather/rain BLOCK A wasn't cleared in time (a max delta time from leaving BLOCK A to entering BLOCK B) then it's likely to "fail safe" and declare BLOCK A not clear. Then the departed train would be held at the bottom of the lift (better than the top) as it wouldn't be able to move to BLOCK A. Similarly a fail if the arriving train wasn't stopped correctly in the station (if it isn't 100% sure in BLOCK B how do we know it isn't still stuck in BLOCK A).

You'd use a max delta time to move from one to another to identify issues such as debris on track/wheels, failed wheel bearings, issues with wind, brake release issues, any LIM or trim brake issues, etc. Probably why the need to pause the chain lift, do the necessary operational checks, document, and a "soft reset". The stop at the top of the chain lift was probably due to it requiring a "hard reset" either by going out of operating parameters (or too many times). I imagine since Smiler, operations do not allow a "hard reset" with passengers on board without a LOT of checks and probably approval from Mack. That's my guess anyway. Purely hypothetical.

A teething problem maybe, but it's not exactly unusual weather for the UK. Definitely not a safety issue, unless you're behind someone who's had to evacuate themselves stuck at the top of the hill. :-D
 
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From our observations over the weekend, a train will stop at the top of the lift if the previous train does not clear the brakes quickly enough. This was happening frequently on Saturday as the train was absolutely crawling through the brakes even when the station was clear.
 
Yes I'd say they either need to allow it to travel quicker through the brakes once it's under control, or increase the dispatch interval so it doesn't routinely stop at the top. The lift automatically restarted after the brakes were clear but it's not good for it to be doing this all the time.

I'm unsure about the cause of the breakdown. There's pics on TS of engineering staff looking at the motor so could be related to the constant stop-start? Speculation on my part but could it be a thermal cut-out?

I don't think it was a block fault because Merlin don't allow block resets with guests on anymore, and from the BBC report Saturday's train was not evacuated from the lift.
 
Well I did get on Hyperia again on Saturday, but still haven't fully made my mind up on it as that ride was in torrential rain. So a somewhat unpleasant and disorientating experience.

The first Saturday it was open though and it operated for around an hour. Waiting for it to open in the morning was extremely tedious. There was no communication at all from staff and because you are held in the temporary queue extension well away from the ride, you cannot see what is going on.

There are clearly still major issues with Hyperia. When it did open, it went down before a loaded train had even been sent. And then it went down again after 2 or 3 loaded trains had been sent.

The incident that left people stuck at the top of the lift hill was far from ideal. Not sure why they didn't just go for an evac, I know it is not what you want to do, but that was a long time to leave people up there for. Then for the rest of the day it was testing a lot, and we saw an engineer filming what was happening from various angles. I suspect it is a block issue, whereby the system is not registering the train as having entered the station so the other train is being left at the top of the lift.

One thing they do really need to sort out though is the speed at which the train returns to the station. It is never going to get close to 1,000pph with how it runs at the moment. Minifigure Speedway at Legoland is getting a better throughout (around 800-850pph for both combined).
 
Can't imagine a motor issue/thermal cut-out - it would happen at more random places on the lift. Is the track from the brakes to the station gravity or motorised?

@Alsty - don't know what the Op manual says about soft/hard block resets, but quite easy to create a manual fail-safe override procedure on a 2-car coaster. If the train failed to make it back into the station in time, then it would require some Operator override/confirm. The Smiler issue was due to not knowing how many cars were on the track - now solved with a few bits of plastic sign above the control pod.

Maybe leaves on the line (or in the brakes)?? 😂
 
My feeling from the weekend is the testing in the morning definitely set the tone for each day. Opening late Saturday with plenty of stop starts on that hill never filled me with confidence and I genuinely didn't expect it to open. I got on at 1140ish.. think it was 15 mins later that train got stuck..really felt for the park..the queues had swelled to 4 hrs due to the delays.

Sunday was completely different. Tested well. I was on that first train. Queue temporarily went to 210 mins afterwards but jumped rapidly to 95, then averaged 75 after that.

There are caveats to each day. Weather was on off with rain Saturday. It was the first ever weekend operation so had 3 weekenders wanting to attend and ride. Sunday obviously had Father's Day, Euros and even Eid started that night too so was as expected to be quiet

I know TP ran reduced capacities midweek. I had a hunch they did that Saturday you know. Pretty much all the rides had weather induced stoppages and still queues were not ridiculous.

But before I veer off topic, back to the ride. The ride area needs those plants to grow nice and tall and thick to take the summer heat off the queue area which felt a lot warmer. It'll look great and feel a bit cooler imho. The mulch smell was nice but dragonflies and hornets I didn't want coming anywhere near me. 😂

The theatre thing needs scrapping. Make it a nice open area where people can sit and wait/watch the ride imo.

The motor is loud eh. Don't know how they muffle it. Shame they couldn't put it on the other side. I love looking up at the lift hill from the queue though. The way the sun sits right behind it looks deliberate. However it's bloody blinding when your travelling up the thing 😂

It's definitely the best ride I've ever been on. I love coasters but my experience is very is limited to UK and DLP only. It's Icon meets the Big One. It's the intensity of Smiler. It's unique enough to be on its own. It takes me back to the buzz of Nemmy 1994 and has given my kids the best weekend at a theme park they've ever had.😍

On my 3rd and final ride of the weekend I did feel that grey out thing mentioned on here and it took my completely by shock. Thought I was about to pass out then a split second later was ok. Happy to take a break from rides for while now. TP is not a park that gives you many rests from relentless rattles, spins, rolls.
We came all the way from Manchester and can't see myself coming back for a while due to the distance but hopefully when 1-2 rides are added we'll ride it again
 
Poisson said:
I think people also need to realise they do deliberate lift stops before the ride opens as part of the routine it seems. Not at the top, but half way up. Not every stoppage is a problem.
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Interesting. Thought that was typically avoided due to stress on components. Twisted Colossus at SFMM has a super-slow gear setting when waiting for the other train to catch up so they can "race".
 
Smiley said:
Interesting. Thought that was typically avoided due to stress on components. Twisted Colossus at SFMM has a super-slow gear setting when waiting for the other train to catch up so they can "race".
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Galactica does that as well so that a train doesn't have to stop on the lift if the train ahead hasn't cleared the brakes.
 
I think DVH stops on the lift before you exit the dark ride section?

Hyperia isn't doing it as part of the ride deliberately but it seems on multiple of my visits to have stopped part way during checks and restarted.
 
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