[The Smiler] Construction Updates / Ride Speculation Part 2 *SPOILER FREE*

[JAMMY_Jaunts]

Does anyone know why the train jolts when reversing down the vertical lift hill after a breakdown. Do you think there is something wrong with the vertical lift as this is where most breakdowns appear to be occurring and various people have mentioned a weird slowing sensation when cresting the top.

Jolt is at 1:15 on this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdT-KwOJHzQ#

Also, due you reckon that Gerstlauer tested the anti-rollback system at the factory as I'm sure that jolting isn't doing the chain any good .

 

[BigDave]

Its probably the lift chain and gears just turning round. It does however seem to jolt when cresting. A lot of old rides do it, but shouldnt be happening on a new coaster with new technology.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[LordOfDarkness]

So... Who wants to go behind the scenes for the filming of The Smiler's TV Advert?

Fun Fact: It was filmed in Gerstlauer HQ, Germany!

Check out this cool site: http://thesmilr.tumblr.com/

Also shows bits of lift hill, still waiting to be sent over at the time*.

* I know it could be any coasters lift hill, but the structure of it hasn't been replicated on any other Gerstlauer coaster yet.

Edit: This could be more suitable in the Marketing Thread... Mods do what you wish!

 

[Islander]

Does anyone know why the train jolts when reversing down the vertical lift hill after a breakdown. Do you think there is something wrong with the vertical lift as this is where most breakdowns appear to be occurring and various people have mentioned a weird slowing sensation when cresting the top.

Jolt is at 1:15 on this video.

Also, due you reckon that Gerstlauer tested the anti-rollback system at the factory as I'm sure that jolting isn't doing the chain any good .

I should imagine the jolting is simply due to the anti rollback system, which consists of a number of brake fins. The jolt is probably just as the magnets on the train move from one fin to the next. Certainly wouldn't imagine it's a problem, or that it's causing damage to the chain or anything.

 

[Alastair]

So... Who wants to go behind the scenes for the filming of The Smiler's TV Advert?

Fun Fact: It was filmed in Gerstlauer HQ, Germany!

Check out this cool site: http://thesmilr.tumblr.com/

Also shows bits of lift hill, still waiting to be sent over at the time*.

* I know it could be any coasters lift hill, but the structure of it hasn't been replicated on any other Gerstlauer coaster yet.

Edit: This could be more suitable in the Marketing Thread... Mods do what you wish!

That's quite interesting actually! To think, when we got the first pictures of the train we thought they were at Merlin HQ, when they were in reality still in Germany

 

[Mikey:SubTerra]

Does anyone know why the train jolts when reversing down the vertical lift hill after a breakdown. Do you think there is something wrong with the vertical lift as this is where most breakdowns appear to be occurring and various people have mentioned a weird slowing sensation when cresting the top.

Jolt is at 1:15 on this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdT-KwOJHzQ#

Also, due you reckon that Gerstlauer tested the anti-rollback system at the factory as I'm sure that jolting isn't doing the chain any good .

I said the same thing yesterday when it broke down. When I went on it, both times it seemed to jolt, or felt like the car might stop - in the same place as it had broken down at.

On a different note, does anyone know why the 4th train on the circuit still has it's wrapping on and test dummies?

 

[James]

On a different note, does anyone know why the 4th train on the circuit still has it's wrapping on and test dummies?

It hasn't been written off (to be used with guests on) yet so it's still going through the required testing hours. They only managed to get so many trains tested and written off before opening. If I'm right I think this is the last train that needs to go through it's testing too.

 

[TheMan]

This made me wonder how much each train would cost.

Gotta be a fair old amount hasn't it.

 

[djtruefitt]

So... Who wants to go behind the scenes for the filming of The Smiler's TV Advert?

Fun Fact: It was filmed in Gerstlauer HQ, Germany!

Check out this cool site: http://thesmilr.tumblr.com/

Also shows bits of lift hill, still waiting to be sent over at the time*.

* I know it could be any coasters lift hill, but the structure of it hasn't been replicated on any other Gerstlauer coaster yet.

Edit: This could be more suitable in the Marketing Thread... Mods do what you wish!

Thats quite interesting, especially that the advert was all filmed at the Gerst warehouse! I just thought it would be done in some fancy TV studio somewhere. And them photos towers posted online of the trains were in fact still in Germany and no where near Alton! And who would have thought they used a real bird in the advert as well!

 

[Dave]

Does anyone know why the train jolts when reversing down the vertical lift hill after a breakdown. Do you think there is something wrong with the vertical lift as this is where most breakdowns appear to be occurring and various people have mentioned a weird slowing sensation when cresting the top.

Jolt is at 1:15 on this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdT-KwOJHzQ#

Also, due you reckon that Gerstlauer tested the anti-rollback system at the factory as I'm sure that jolting isn't doing the chain any good .

I said the same thing yesterday when it broke down. When I went on it, both times it seemed to jolt, or felt like the car might stop - in the same place as it had broken down at.

On a different note, does anyone know why the 4th train on the circuit still has it's wrapping on and test dummies?

Gersts always jolt at the top of the vertical lifts, they seem to bounce a bit on the chain. Just because a train stops on the lift-hill doesn't mean the fault is on the lift-hill, just that the system wants the train stopped.

 

[cotda]

Its a new ride and its prone to problems. Getting a ride open in the morning isn't as easy as just flicking a switch. The ride has to be tested and ran around a few times with no problems. If it fails any of these tests, it cannot open. So they are being extra careful and making sure they do everything they can to get it open and running smoothly. This requires time and means it opens later.

I cant help but disagree, its basic logic (the day I went they began testing at 10:00 and it opened about 20 past) that if you need to do testing and it needs to be open for X time, you do the testing earlier?

I personally believe that all rides on park should begin testing and open as soon as possible, rather than testing and just staying idle till 10:00 :/

They start testing way before you see if doing round the track because they do all the internal checks first before sending the trains round, which is one of the last things they do.

Okay, but thats besides the point of my post, the rides should open early if anything but not late, if The Smiler hasn't opened on time, begin testing earlier? Its just logic?

 

[Fredward]

Okay, but thats besides the point of my post, the rides should open early if anything but not late, if The Smiler hasn't opened on time, begin testing earlier? Its just logic?

It's easy to make statements like that when you are ignorant to what is actually going on.

I'm sure the operators and management know more about testing then you, and have a valid reason to it not opening in the mornings on time.

 

[Islander]

Okay, but thats besides the point of my post, the rides should open early if anything but not late, if The Smiler hasn't opened on time, begin testing earlier? Its just logic?

It's easy to make statements like that when you are ignorant to what is actually going on.

OK then, as someone who's fairly clued up on the daily testing of amusement rides, including the time involved, and as someone who sees this happening daily, I'm also surprised at the difficulties that the Smiler seems to be having at opening on time. It should take maintenance X amount of time to inspect and test the ride, and attractions Y amount of time to test it, so the process should start X+Y before 10am.

Having said that, I'm sure Towers are trying very hard to do this - it's hardly in their interest to open late. At the end of the day, this is still a new attraction, so things should settle down in a few weeks.

 

[Rob]

I'm sure they are opening it as soon as they can every day. It seems to have been opening later since it stalled the other day, so I'd imagine they are going through a few more procedures and doing a few more checks etc. For example morning testing takes place now with each of the train having some test dummies in them. Then yesterday they took each train off the track individually to remove the dummies in the maintenance shed, this was a very time consuming process.

I personally think it is understandable if it does open late, purely because it is new. Give it a few weeks though and no doubt it will be open by 10am every day.

 

[Jon]

Which is perfectly understandable, only I think they should advertise that it is due to open at, say, 12pm during this tentative phase, to take the pressure off themselves.

 

[Dave]

Tech services are also only just getting their hands on this machine, we need to give them a little slack whilst they get things down to an art. I think tech services got on the ride not long before it opened and then there are the issues with stalling.

I have never seen a ride ANYWHERE open without any issues in its first few weeks.

 

[cotda]

Okay, but thats besides the point of my post, the rides should open early if anything but not late, if The Smiler hasn't opened on time, begin testing earlier? Its just logic?

It's easy to make statements like that when you are ignorant to what is actually going on.

I'm sure the operators and management know more about testing then you, and have a valid reason to it not opening in the mornings on time.

I know there will be issues, and that the delays are definitely not intentional, but I struggle to see how this can have so much trouble opening when it is, in essence a standard rollercoaster when compared to th13teen and its complex freefall mechanism? And having the same issue every day for opening late surely they'd get the hint?

I know there will be issues and am just saying that ideally they should begin earlier as a simple solution if this is becoming a pattern

 

[Dave]

Okay, but thats besides the point of my post, the rides should open early if anything but not late, if The Smiler hasn't opened on time, begin testing earlier? Its just logic?

It's easy to make statements like that when you are ignorant to what is actually going on.

I'm sure the operators and management know more about testing then you, and have a valid reason to it not opening in the mornings on time.

I know there will be issues, and that the delays are definitely not intentional, but I struggle to see how this can have so much trouble opening when it is, in essence a standard rollercoaster when compared to th13teen and its complex freefall mechanism? And having the same issue every day for opening late surely they'd get the hint?

I know there will be issues and am just saying that ideally they should begin earlier as a simple solution if this is becoming a pattern

There are a few new elements to the ride from a technical point.

- New Trains
- New reversible lift system (never been done by any manufacturer

Plus even relatively simple new rides suffer downtime issues. An engineer once told me that all new machines have a "bath-tub" curve of faults. Basically if you plot the number of faults on a machine over time, at installation you will get a high number of faults that quickly drop after a few months of operation, stay low for a period of time then begin to increase as the system ages.

I have no criticism of the rides down-time at the moment as all rides do it (including B&M), my gripe is the fact the thing opened nearly 3 months late.

 

[James]

I think it's worth pointing out too that a new ride needs to warm up and settle in its environment. It needs to get used to being operated 7+ hours a day for months on end. All new rides get problems appearing in there first few months. But come the end of this year the ride will have little to no problems.

 

[Oatcakedodger]

It's plainly obvious that Towers are cutting down the usage of The Smiler by starting testing later than ride opening time, last Saturday the first empty trains didn't start going round the track till past 10.30 then the ride opened just before 11 and by the looks of the feeds this week it's roughly been the same, it's not rocket science that they start the test earlier to get the ride open at the stated 10 o clock time :twirly: