I want to make clear that I have the utmost respect for the guy and everything he's achieved and I'm as big a fan of his as anybody. But why are we hanging on a quick throwaway comment from John and making it into something it likely isn't?
You must remember his audience the other night. At one point, he seemed to misunderstand that someone was asking about an RMC. He then went on to basically, politely, say that he thought RMC's were crap and then after that got a cheer from the crowd when he suggested that Merlin could be considering one. Has he ever ridden an RMC? Does he genuinely not think much of them? Is Alton getting one soon and he had to to pretend to not let the cat out the bag? Who knows.
He'll know stuff that we don't, has a room full of excitable enthusiasts to entertain and has to be careful about what he says. Who knows what he meant? He could have been sensing the lack of love for this boring, low capacity coaster and thrown the comment out there to defend it slightly. He could have had his head somewhere else whilst excited eyes were stating at him. He could be referring to the addition of an extra row, faster to check retaraints or a new super duper baggage hold they have planned.
I don't think a quick passing comment meant we're getting 50+ rider trains or some secret compilcated turntable. It's 1 train, 7 rows, 28 riders and is a shuttle coaster. It'll have crap capacity and loads of RAP and fast track holding back the main queue like every other ride at Chessington. End of, as much as all of us don't want it to be true.