• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Runaway Mine Train: General Discussion

Blackhole_Sun said:
I didn’t actually notice that, what I did consider is I think I could actually wriggle out myself if I so wished with the bar locked as the gap between my leg and the bar when pushed up is considerable. For a kid it would be no issue to get free.

Ideally the restraints need changing. No chance in a month of Sunday’s Merlin will do that to an existing ride. They won’t even change the badly needed sub terra ones.
Click to expand...
I only noticed it because i saw the brown and some rivets inside and didn't think it looked right and checked later, here is a screenshot of theme park world wides march 2024 vlog with the modification (it was the best picture I could get at 5:54):

1713133295177.png

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_nA7TzJdtQ
 
I rode this today for the first time this season, I noticed the new side bits to the train, I can only guess someone probably stuck their leg out or something so this is to stop that?

Also the new exit gate is great, it’s also been designed well, the host on the offload can actually unlock it without having to leave their little hut, and it seems to be a maglock so the host doesn’t need to go and lock it either. It’s rare something at towers is actually designed well, so that’s good to see!

I notice there are quite a few new signs around and loads of cctv cameras on the platform as well this season.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
4) Queue is now shorter generally as little kids can no longer go on it. Shame….
Click to expand...

Don't know if that's true if you're only basing it on yesterday when the park was generally the quietest it has been all Easter.

When we went a few weekends back it had 60+ minute queues most of the day, though of course part of that was the generally terrible availability throughout the park.

It's still only 1.1m accompanied so on average anyone over 5 can ride it which likely isn't having a major impact on its popularity.
 
Bowser said:
Don't know if that's true if you're only basing it on yesterday when the park was generally the quietest it has been all Easter.

When we went a few weekends back it had 60+ minute queues most of the day, though of course part of that was the generally terrible availability throughout the park.

It's still only 1.1m accompanied so on average anyone over 5 can ride it which likely isn't having a major impact on its popularity.
Click to expand...
I think it would have a reasonable impact on how many people ride it to be honest. Difficult to say generally as it usually sits around the 40 minute mark on Sundays in general.
 
Rode this for the first time in 2024 yesterday with my 70-year old father. It seemed *incredibly* slow, not sure whether they have made changes to its running speed since last year? We might have just been unlucky, or maybe they toned it down a bit for my dear old dad? We did ride about 11am but I didn't think a powered coaster would "warm up" throughout the day in the same way a standard coaster might.

Hoping this is just a one off and this doesn't represent a permanent neutralisation of what used to be a pretty fun ride.
 
I noticed it slowed significantly on the approach to and pass through the station, really seemed to crawl though before speeding up again when approaching the first turn.

I also nearly fell out of the car when exiting due to the step being so much higher than it used to be. This despite having spotted they'd changed it way back on opening day.
 
I haven't noticed much of a change in speed, except for the final turn into the station, which was noticeably slower than usual.
 
Was at the park today during the power cut at the start of the day chatting to the ride Ops for RMT.
They said the park is bringing back RPH targets from Scarefest park wide.
RMT specific - closed season brings taller airgates so they can batch while the ride is in operation. Also the height chart is going to the queue entrance with a permanent member of staff stopping people suspected of being too small before they get in the queue.
There’s also, supposedly, talk of getting a second train again as a tentative RPH for next season is 800. Which is impossible to achieve with one
 
Alphe86 said:
Was at the park today during the power cut at the start of the day chatting to the ride Ops for RMT.
They said the park is bringing back RPH targets from Scarefest park wide.
RMT specific - closed season brings taller airgates so they can batch while the ride is in operation. Also the height chart is going to the queue entrance with a permanent member of staff stopping people suspected of being too small before they get in the queue.
There’s also, supposedly, talk of getting a second train again as a tentative RPH for next season is 800. Which is impossible to achieve with one
Click to expand...
It's brilliant to hear that the park is going to emphasise operations going forward!

One question, though; how on earth are they proposing to put a second train on RMT? I apologise if I'm missing something here, but it's never had a second train in all of its years of operation, and it wouldn't be possible for the ride to run 2 trains without a drastic change to the ride system. The whole nature of RMT at the moment is predicated on there only being 1 train; powered coasters, particularly modern ones, can run 2, but there's no way that RMT in its current form could run 2 unless they slashed it to only one lap and drastically overhauled the control system.

Unless you're talking about a different ride with regard to the second train comment, in which case I will probably now look very silly...
 
Last edited:
RMT is powered. If the ride stops the train stops. In theory the model supports two with quick enough dispatches but probably the end of 2 laps.

I agree with most of the above but if they want to keep the ride for the long term maybe a small refresh is on the cards
 
Alphe86 said:
There’s also, supposedly, talk of getting a second train again as a tentative RPH for next season is 800.
Click to expand...
I would be curious how this worked, as mack have made powered rides are able to run with block zones and are able to run more than 1 train (https://mack-rides.com/en/products/rollercoaster/powered-coaster/) but I struggle to see how this could work on RMT due to the relatively short duration of the ride (you would have a train stacked at the entrance of the station for quite a while waiting for the train ahead to dispatch, in addition it would require significant control systems changes.
I have always thought that it would be cool if RMT was to get a reimagining if they could do something like on mr freeze (a transfer table with 2 positions able to slide a train into the track from the station) or some dual stations like on galactica, as it would dramatically increase capacity since it could be constantly running, but it would require a drastic change and would not be a closed season capacity.

back onto the point, according to coasterpedia it has a maximum hourly cappacity of 1100rph currently: https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Runaway_Mine_Train_(Alton_Towers)
so they could probably acchieve 800rph (I am assuming over the 30+ years RMT has been opened, changing H&S rules has impacted its capacity)
 
Last edited:
Alphe86 said:
Was at the park today during the power cut at the start of the day chatting to the ride Ops for RMT.
They said the park is bringing back RPH targets from Scarefest park wide.
RMT specific - closed season brings taller airgates so they can batch while the ride is in operation. Also the height chart is going to the queue entrance with a permanent member of staff stopping people suspected of being too small before they get in the queue.
There’s also, supposedly, talk of getting a second train again as a tentative RPH for next season is 800. Which is impossible to achieve with one
Click to expand...

I struggle to believe this, particularly the permanent member of staff at the entrance claim. Surely by that logic all the coasters should have the same? Or is RMT hindered by this issue more than most?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top