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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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phildenholm said:
But as I've said before and got shot down in flames merlin must address this issue if it is to ever regain the publics trust in this ride. Imagine the next time a car stalls on track, there would be hysterics and rightly so.
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That I agree with, so I apologise if I misinterpreted that you felt that was the root cause of the crash.

It's stalling among many other things that is the reason why the ride has not reopened. The risk is too great - while not dangerous it would be a huge hook for panic, the press and negative PR to hang off.

This 'design review' is more likely the demanding from the manufacturers and the third party that you give me a ride back that will not so much make a squeak. That will take time to agree and implement.
 
phildenholm said:
But as I've said before and got shot down in flames merlin must address this issue if it is to ever regain the publics trust in this ride. Imagine the next time a car stalls on track, there would be hysterics and rightly so.
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I agree with you.

A ride of that stature should not stall so easily. By easily I mean, it shouldn't have to rely on being weighted.

If the track is not re-profiled (highly unlikely it will) they need an easier way of correcting it.
 
I know this was said really far back in the thread but not sure if it was answered.

Would taking the Trims off correct this?

Also, going back to when the smiler was first tested, it went through the batwing fast.... Someone said this was to do with the wheels? Or was there no trim?
 
The cheapest way of fixing it I would guess would be to have test dummies placed on the car when 'empty' trains need to be sent around the track. Since trains have only stalled when they've been empty. Only problem with that is that for regular breakdowns it would be pretty time consuming for staff and guests.

Another way could be to just keep an eye on the weather, since it has been suggested the train stalled in June due to high winds.
 
Some people have said more weight in the cars or a faster hill lift would increase the speed of the cars (other people again shot this all down in flames) others have said the only thing that will fix it is a regrading of the track or a total car redesign. For me what ever they do it will have to involve the company that built the ride as they are the experts.

I wonder what kind of warenty you get on something like the smiler? If anything like that exists, not that this would be a warenty issue, just wondering out loud
 
I agree.

I think Alton/ Merlin might want to show actual physical change to the general public... So a car redesign maybe a good idea
 
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I initially thought the only way it could reopen was after a retreat and new cars but time has made me come round to the idea of just addressing the issues and getting it open again.
 
I know a lot of people think a re theme is the way to go but I think this would be a really crude way of doing it.

Everyone knows it was this coaster that it happened on. And I think a re theme could be seen as insulting to the gp. Does that make sense?
 
I see what you are saying but can they reopen it with the ministry of joy etc? I'd be happy if they did but from a pr and the media point of view it might be seen as disrespectful but we all know what the media are like. Other rides that have accidents like the one at lightweight Valley where a woman actually died they had a really brand when they reopened the ride. I agree this may not be enough due to the way the media has took to this story but it is common place to rebrand after an accident
 
I feel there will need to be a change, even if it is insignificant but good to hang off visually. Changes to the front of the ride (why is that railing there anyway?) at the very least but I suspect they will go for more than that.
 
It's a tough one. It's like Alton have always played on the fear that you're in danger, when we know (think) we are actually safe... So now something like this has happened it's ironic.

Also, if a rebrand does happen, will anyone stop calling it the smiler?
 
I'm not sure the railing is a problem, I know that was what has caused the injuries... But that also took the impact, what if that wasn't there? Maybe the injuries would have been a lot worse?
 
Ash123uk said:
I'm not sure the railing is a problem, I know that was what has caused the injuries... But that also took the impact, what if that wasn't there? Maybe the injuries would have been a lot worse?
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I don't believe that would be the case, but it's only an educated guess.
 
If they were to remove the railings maybe they could stretch the gate that opens just before you depart?!

And going back to the ministry of joy topic.

Why not?! They can't forever be in a doom and gloom about it. After all, it's a roller coaster.... It's supposed to make you feel happy.... They can't feel bad for making it exciting!

Can they?
 
If the railing wasn't there I would have thought there would have been less damage.

In terms of the theme I don't think creating a new theme would do much. They could do with making some minor changes, perhaps dropping some of the taglines such as "You Will Be Corrected". Some tweaks here and there should be just fine. I'm not sure whether it would be worth changing the name of the ride, 'The Smiler' doesn't seem like the best name of the ride given what happened, but then would changing the name do anything? People will still know it's the ride that crashed, and most people will still call it The Smiler. It's quite a strong brand.

The public and the media will still slate whatever happens anyway. The Smiler stays exactly the same (how disrespectful to the victims!!!), The Smiler gets a complete rebrand and is renamed (pathetic they are trying to cover up what they did!!!). There's no winning. I guess that's what has been looked or is being looked into at the moment, seeing whether one option will be any worse than the other and what makes sense for going forwards.
 
There's no way the bars at the front of each row are going, they are essential to guest safety during on-load and off-load. Without them you have a drop onto the track. Imagine if they ever had to do a lift evac and it wasn't there? H&S nightmare!

I don't expect the trains to change at all. The design of the trains is not to blame. It should never crash in the first place, no coaster train is designed to protect you in a crash.

In terms of the theme and brand of The Smiler - Towers have removed "welcome to eternal darkness" amongst other things from Oblivion videos. There's surely no way The Smiler can open again tell you to "get corrected" and that "The Smiler will marmalise your body and mind".

:)
 
James said:
Yeah even though the stalling potential will be irrelevant to the HSE. I think it's something that needs to be looked into by Merlin/Towers/Gerst while they also make whatever other changes they need to because of the crash. Even though stalled trains have been less frequent overtime it still can happen on that section, and the June accident shows that it's still a problem section. Like said above if a train stalled again in future it will really not look good and cause a lot of panic (as well as be plastered all over the media).
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You said the stalls have been less frequent - was that because of changes they made to the ride?
 
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