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Runaway Mine Train: General Discussion

Zeock

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Is Wastelands Penitentiary (Tulleys Shocktober Fest) a ride? If not, my favourite ride is Nemesis.
Surprised this doesn't have a thread yet, but as it is 30 years old this year, how much longer do you think it will last?
 
She should last a good deal longer, Thunder Run at Canada's Wonderland is 41 years old and there are plenty of other Mack Powered Coasters well into their 30s still going so I can't see RMT going any time soon. What I think is more likely in the coming years is Congo River Rapids getting replaced with something that doesn't require frequent danger of death signs, if that happens then we might see RMT get a refresh but nothing drastic. Would be nice if they spruced up that tunnel though.
 
I'd like to think RMT has a future at AT. It's one of only a handful of rides that appeals to everyone - young kids, older kids, adults, even over 60s (I rode it recently with my dad!). As powered coasters go it's a pretty fun one, likely thanks to the hand John Wardley had in designing the layout.

I'm worried about the future of Katanga Canyon though. The river rapids is in danger of becoming a white elephant because the HSE have basically made it inoperable; in it's current form with all the aggressive signage it is not enjoyable. And that's a worry for RMT as well, because it was designed around interactions with CRR and falls a bit flat otherwise (try riding it at 10am before CRR has any water in it - it's just looking at a mud channel; depressing).

AT have a history of creating themed areas and then changing things around so much that the original theme no longer makes sense - look what happened with Ug Land. Once Corkscrew was removed a number of the smaller rides were moved elsewhere and then Rita was added, completely diluting the prehistoric theme. Attempting to retheme the area to Dark Forest has, according to consensus, been a total failure. So my concern is that CRR will go and be replaced by either nothing or something not in keeping with the KC theme and we will lose yet another themed area from the park. RMT will then make less sense as a ride and people will just stop bothering with it.
 
I'd like to think RMT has a future at AT. It's one of only a handful of rides that appeals to everyone - young kids, older kids, adults, even over 60s (I rode it recently with my dad!). As powered coasters go it's a pretty fun one, likely thanks to the hand John Wardley had in designing the layout.

I'm worried about the future of Katanga Canyon though. The river rapids is in danger of becoming a white elephant because the HSE have basically made it inoperable; in it's current form with all the aggressive signage it is not enjoyable. And that's a worry for RMT as well, because it was designed around interactions with CRR and falls a bit flat otherwise (try riding it at 10am before CRR has any water in it - it's just looking at a mud channel; depressing).

AT have a history of creating themed areas and then changing things around so much that the original theme no longer makes sense - look what happened with Ug Land. Once Corkscrew was removed a number of the smaller rides were moved elsewhere and then Rita was added, completely diluting the prehistoric theme. Attempting to retheme the area to Dark Forest has, according to consensus, been a total failure. So my concern is that CRR will go and be replaced by either nothing or something not in keeping with the KC theme and we will lose yet another themed area from the park. RMT will then make less sense as a ride and people will just stop bothering with it.

Some of the over sixties like all the rides you know...
 
So my concern is that CRR will go and be replaced by either nothing or something not in keeping with the KC theme
I am worried about that too, but surely they could replace CRR with a new rapids? (which has the same interaction in the tunnel with RMT as CRR always has).
 
I personally thought Drayton Manor’s rapids was no better than Congo River Rapids (although it was admittedly nicely themed) when I rode in June 2022, so I’m not sure that the new boats would necessarily do a lot.

As for RMT, I reckon it still has a fair amount of life in it yet. It’s arguably the only real all-round family coaster at the park. The track probably experiences relatively low stress compared to something like Nemesis. And even if the track did need replacing at any time, I’d wager that it would be quite cheap to replace.

I personally foresee Congo River Rapids going before Runaway Mine Train. I wouldn’t be overly surprised if CRR goes by the end of the 2020s, whereas I expect that Runaway Mine Train will still be operating into the 2030s unless Katanga Canyon as a whole is replaced.

An idea I’ve had for that area of the park for a couple of years would be for a new water ride to be built somewhere else in the park as the next major so that CRR could be removed and replaced with an Intamin Blitz Coaster or similar for the major investment after that. The Rapids area is one of the few remaining areas on park where you could build another huge coaster, you could have quite a cool Taron/Raik type dynamic between the new coaster and RMT in Katanga Canyon, and you also wouldn’t lose out on a non-coaster water ride because of the new one being built elsewhere beforehand.
 
I suspect at some point, someone will take issue with the way those restraints are configured.

The configuration doesn't work nicely for securing a large adult and a small kid in the same seat.
 
I suspect at some point, someone will take issue with the way those restraints are configured.

The configuration doesn't work nicely for securing a large adult and a small kid in the same seat.
Yeah it's a single-position shared lap bar. I could see a new train with individual ratcheting lap restraints like Thorpe's Flying Fish in the future.
 
Meanwhile, Phoenix at Knoebels....!
Well, quite ...

Buzz bars are interesting because although you have lots of freedom underneath the buzz bar, the space for you to escape is fixed and the only variable at play is the body dimensions of the rider, which you partially mitigate with the height restriction.

On something like RMT, there are two variables. The body dimensions of the rider and the space to escape, which itself is influenced by the body dimensions of the larger rider.
 
I think the ride has a good future ahead. I bet it'll be at the park for another 20 years. It never has a short queue, nor a long queue, but it's always consistent.
The fact that it is consistently popular will probably keep it running for a while.
 
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