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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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JB1985 said:
I got told its being pulled down.....
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I can't see them pulling it down, it would be cheaper for it to be SBNO.

As far as I'm aware, the HSE handed the Smiler back over to the park on the morning of 19th October. They were trying to get the ride open for the last week after the Scarefest and some of the staff members received an email on Friday the 7th November saying that the Smiler will now be opening next year.

Whether the Smiler will open at the start of the next season or halfway through, no one can say.

Is the above information that I provided 100% true? I can't guarantee that it is and I'm not going to try and persuade you or demand that it is. Make of the information as you wish. But we will have to wait until next season to find out.
 
I'm sure if the park has got it back then it's like a normal closed season for it apart from the delivery and testing of 2 new trains.
 
JB1985 said:
I got told its being pulled down.....
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citaton-needed.png
 
I been told it become a frame for hanging baskets :D
anyway back to a sort of factual discussion.
I think it will open next season. The replacement trains will be on site and tested/ runned in. The one thing will be how will they go about the reopening, and what will be missing from the shop?
 
It will be interesting to see how things play out next year. When the ride will reopen, what merch they will sell, if there will be any operational changes that affect throughput, if the music/theme will stay the same or have tweaks, if the Marmaliser will keep all its elements (wouldn't surprise me if the Inoculator needles 'upset' some random guest that run to the Daily Fail)... Personally I hope it's just opened as it was before and carries on as business as usual. There will be tripe articles splattered across the web either way, so I don't see much point in there being any changes to the theme, music, merch or ride.

One good thing about it not reopening this season, at least they have a whole closed season now to carry on thorough testing to ensure it operates as smoothly as possible come next year. No doubt Towers want as few breakdowns as possible when it reopens.
 
Dar said:
There are two smashed ones from the crash, it would be unthinkable that they would just patch them up and re-use them.
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I doubt they will get them back from the HSE till after any court cases etc but what's to say they won't just carry on with 3 cars? It's not like there will be as many people wanting to ride it initial and public confidence may be better with less trains as less chance of there being an issue again.

Would be nice to see it open first day of next season with 4 trains and a 5th one in the shed for a day when its needed but I'm thinking it will be 3 cars perhaps even with a restyle of the ride. Perhaps the reason they didn't ope before the end of the season is so they can change the whole theme of the ride so they don't upset any of the people who were injured? Just a theory
 
Dar said:
There are two smashed ones from the crash, it would be unthinkable that they would just patch them up and re-use them.
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"unthinkable" seems a bit strong. It is very likely that a large amount of train parts can be salvaged. I think they will refurbish the trains rather than get completely new ones. Anything damaged can be replaced for new. The line between refurbished trains and just using salvaged parts on "new" trains might be blurry though.
 
If you want a fact, here's one: Three trains will be more than ample capacity for the 'foreseeable future' once it reopens.
 
Wouldn't surprise me if they never run more than two, never mind three, again. You can kiss goodbye to the dueling trains, no way they will ever let two be seen on track at the same time now. The public don't understand the concept of block systems.
 
They will almost certainly replace/refurbish one train but the 5th adds very little so might not need to be replaced.

On refurbishing the trains it will be a lot more complicated because it was in a crash. The stress from that can cause microscopic damage which could cause the whole thing to fall apart if put under stress (an everyday occurrence for a roller coaster) it has brought down many an airplane (for those of us who watch air crash investigation ;)). This could mean none of the trains are salvageable and it would need at least one new train.

They will definitely have more than one train outside at the same time and capacity will still be an issue. So many people on Facebook keep asking when the smiler will be open and plus people will get an extra kick from the 'danger' and people (especially teenagers) will consider it a challenge and something to show off about.
 
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