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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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djtruefitt said:
Do we have any news on any new rides at PB next year? I doubt we will see one as we got the air race thing this year.
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There won't be any new rides for 2016 as far as am aware, however there seems to be some work taking place in the Tom Sawyer bridge area with the lake drained,electrical cabling been removed from underneath the bridge itself and a rig drilling a section of the foundation of the lake to test for quality, the same device was used months before Skyforce opened to test that areas foundations as well.

It may all be a bit of coincidence or it might be connected to the rumored Project 2017/18 if so I think the bridge itself is on borrowed time and has been for some years now.
 
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Nash frustrates me as it wouldn't take much to fix regarding the brakes (in my uneducated opinion)
 
Poisson said:
Nash frustrates me as it wouldn't take much to fix regarding the brakes (in my uneducated opinion)
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Nash needs new trains as well though, the current ones are too heavy which results in much higher maintenance on the track than what should be required.

Combined with the ridiculous station system it is a complete farce and they need to get it sorted as soon as possible, as well as getting the Nickelodeon Streak onto two trains as it used to run as Roller Coaster.
 
Something I was talking to @John about, why does Streak have a massive lurch at the top of the lift? Is it so badly warped?
 
Nash has been running as is for the past 11 years, needs change but it doesn't appear to be forthcoming.
 
Poisson said:
Something I was talking to @John about, why does Streak have a massive lurch at the top of the lift? Is it so badly warped?
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I'm not sure but it has done it for as long as I can remember, it's nothing to worry about.

Rick said:
Nash has been running as is for the past 11 years, needs change but it doesn't appear to be forthcoming.
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It's so frustrating that they have left it like that for so long, the previous management team wouldn't have even signed the ride off with that poor excuse for "throughput!"
 
Jamie said:
It's so frustrating that they have left it like that for so long, the previous management team wouldn't have even signed the ride off with that poor excuse for "throughput!"
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Your obsession regarding capacity is a little exhausting, but I do agree that the National is a headache for the park. It's quite complicated to get things right with a ride like that - the bulk of the problems come from the park's choice of train in 2004.

I do wonder what the future holds in terms of the rolling stock, there are some great players on the market now that directly compete with the PTC - Gravitykraft, GCII and RMC make some great trains that would surely enhance the ride and lower the maintenance budget, but the initial cost probably doesn't make them cost neutral for a good while!
 
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It was the logical choice of trains for Nash, as they're pretty much the same as the ones they replaced which minimised the cost of modifying the station. Sadly they seemingly got a control system on the cheap and it's barely up to the task, and the operations are an absolute shambles as a result. The only reason they get away with it is there's not much of a queue line to speak of, and once the queue gets past the bottom of the stairs people start avoiding the ride. That many people is only equivalent to the post-merge queue on Air, yet takes about 25 minutes rather than 10.

Capacity is an increasing issue on many rides BPB, due to a combination of a number of H&S mandated modifications and a fast track system so poorly implemented it significantly increases dispatch times on most of the rides it's offered on (Nash, PMBO, Infusion, Avalanche and Nick Streak are all affected to varying degrees). Nowadays Mouse, PMBO, Dipper, Nash, Nick Streak, Steeplechase, Avalanche, Valhalla and Ghost Train all run fewer trains/cars than they were designed to, in most cases as a result of enforcing more space between vehicles.
 
BPB's capacity issues really are a joke and they only get away with it because they get so few visitors.

If they got anywhere near the number of visitors that Thorpe Park get their coasters would collapse under the pressure and we'd see 2-3 hour queues (not including Towers since they've had a very quiet season)

Just because the park is quiet is no excuse for them to run rides in such an inefficient way. Standing in a queue for Streak, Nash, Ghost Train and Mouse, especially when Speedy Pass is in operation, is a long, slow and painful experience. At Merlin parks you barely notice the impact of fastrack because it's merged in and the rides have throughputs which can cope. Add to that the fact that BPB seem determined to run coasters on one train whenever they can get away with it (and often when they can't). Something should be done, the current operations can't be doing the park's reputation any good.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
BPB's capacity issues really are a joke and they only get away with it because they get so few visitors.

If they got anywhere near the number of visitors that Thorpe Park get their coasters would collapse under the pressure and we'd see 2-3 hour queues (not including Towers since they've had a very quiet season)
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They don't get away with it. This October half term the park was heaving and the queues were crazy at some points - not quite 2 - 3 hours though.

Enter Valhalla said:
Just because the park is quiet is no excuse for them to run rides in such an inefficient way. Standing in a queue for Streak, Nash, Ghost Train and Mouse, especially when Speedy Pass is in operation, is a long, slow and painful experience. At Merlin parks you barely notice the impact of fastrack because it's merged in and the rides have throughputs which can cope. Add to that the fact that BPB seem determined to run coasters on one train whenever they can get away with it (and often when they can't). Something should be done, the current operations can't be doing the park's reputation any good.
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I agree that BPB's attitude to capacity is shocking these days, but I don't think Thorpe are any better. As a regular visitor it is commonplace to see coasters running just one train with Fastrack being oversold to the point where the main queue barely moves. Agreed though that something needs to change with BPB's operations, the saddest thing is the rides are capable of being more efficient than any other UK park, but sadly due to various different reasons they haven't been for the last few years at least.
 
@Rick some of us think throughput is a serious concern, and @Jamie isn't the only one here to think so either. BPB's ride capacity collapses in the face of Towers, which also means they will struggle with any large amount of people. As stated, some rides are held by H&S, but others by fixable problems which aren't sorted.
 
Went on the Saturday of the last day of the season, it took them until 5pm to get Dipper up to 2 trains, with Big one on 1 train all day when it eventually opened about half 1.
 
MattyH said:
Went on the Saturday of the last day of the season, it took them until 5pm to get Dipper up to 2 trains, with Big one on 1 train all day when it eventually opened about half 1.
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Was it windy? If so, The Big One would have been on one due to this (the ride has three trains, only one of which is set up to be fast enough to run in high winds, as if two were then they would be limited to one on non-windy days as a fast train would be too fast). High winds would also explain why it opened late, as it cannot operate with winds over 40 - 50 MPH (depending on the direction).

Big Dipper however should have been on two all day if there was a queue.
 
I think it will e-stop due to overspeed if running a fast train when it doesn't need a fast train. The best solution would be a set of trims somewhere and 3 fast trains, but that would cost a fortune and almost certainly isn't worth the money.
 
The best solution would be to replace the old, outdated and proven rubbish arrow control system with a newer system with adjustable magnetic brakes on the MCBR and final brake runs.

But like John says, it's not going to happen :(
 
And replace the crap trains and the crap track and the crap supports? Also what track clamps on it?
 
Dar said:
The best solution would be to replace the old, outdated and proven rubbish arrow control system with a newer system with adjustable magnetic brakes on the MCBR and final brake runs.

But like John says, it's not going to happen :(
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But surely the ride system has been programmed to E-stop because the train is travelling too fast around the track? Therefore adding trims wouldn't be an option as it could be a danger to allow it to travel too fast.

That's only a guess though.
 
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