Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

[Connor98]

Could the speed of the trains have been affecting the wear of the track which led to the downtime and retrack earlier in the year?

To avoid further wear to the track they have taken measures to slow it down (new wheels?) which in turn has now potentially caused the increased roughness?

I’m not massively clued up when it comes to wheels and different compounds, but would anyone be able to shed light on what alterations to the wheels they possibly have made? Is it as simple as it’s gone from a hard wheels to some that are softer? Interesting that it’s had such a noticeable effect if this is the case.

 

[Tommy85]

I must be easily pleased as I just did wickerman in the dark on the very back row and it was mentally fast at the start! Definately just as good as other years i’ve ridden it. I admit the rest of the course seemed a tad slower than normal but that opening was as stunning as ever. The first drop in pitch darkness never gets old

 

[Dave]

Wooden coasters tend to run on metal wheels, They can use different oils to impact speed etc.

I would hazard a guess the wheels bearings are just aging so they are running rough and slow, it’s possible the park have slowed the ride down but I’m not sure that would come with an increase in roughness, aged bearings would however.

 

[Connor98]

Was on park yesterday, Wickerman seemed back to its best in my opinion. There was no Squeaking from the train, it hit the flat turn and brakes at a much higher speed than recently. And there was also no stopping on the lift hill. Definitely felt like something had been done, even felt slightly smoother.

it did have a small period of downtime in the morning, so maybe there was some maintenance than ran into opening time. Either way It was top notch again.

 

[Godscrasher]

I think you can say it is the tabloid press who have led to the parks being overly cautious due to the headlines.

Absolute nonsense. There has always been legislation and standards to comply with any business operating. The media only highlight what is being done, they don't enhance it!

 

[Godscrasher]

Usually before any maintenance the e-stop will be activated and locked down with a padlock, to prevent any chance of machinery moving while work is taking place.

Being more safety pedantic here, so I apologise in advance. An e-stop is part of a control system and I think what you mean is a full isolation (physical disconnection of an energy source) when maintenance is taking place. Although if parts need to be in operation for viewing, then there'll be no isolation, but they'll follow a procedure, so they remain safe.

But you're right, they will lockout and tag out, just not with an e-stop, but at the source of energy.

 

[rob666]

Absolute nonsense. There has always been legislation and standards to comply with any business operating. The media only highlight what is being done, they don't enhance it!

Nope sorry.
Thorpe has a knife issue, press make a meal of it, then, very next day, enhanced security at BPB...many additional checks on entry to the park.
If the media hadn't picked it up, there would have been no additional security in Blackpool.
Businesses react to stories in the media, simple fact.

 

[venny]

Nope sorry.
Thorpe has a knife issue, press make a meal of it, then, very next day, enhanced security at BPB...many additional checks on entry to the park.
If the media hadn't picked it up, there would have been no additional security in Blackpool.
Businesses react to stories in the media, simple fact.

This is entirely correct. We had exactly the same experience at BPB the day after the stabbing at Thorpe. There are minimum legal requirements, but that is separate from a park’s implementation of the requirements and what additional operational measures they decide to adopt.

 

[jon81uk]

Absolute nonsense. There has always been legislation and standards to comply with any business operating. The media only highlight what is being done, they don't enhance it!

Merlin parks have definitely been a lot more risk-averse since the Smiler and Splash Canyon incidents. It is obvious that bad press following breakdowns and accidents has led them to be more cautious and do more than the minimum standard.

 

[ChristmasPud]

Response to incidents may have increased the effectiveness of H&S procedure, or brought new things to light, but I wouldnt say that's just out of fear of bad press. I hope not anyway

The core safety policies were in place long before. Although sometimes they werent trained in it as well as they should have (Smiler incident).

Bear in mind there's a whole side we don't see going on behind the scenes about H&S planning and procedure, which has been going on for a long time too.

There might still be overreactions at Merlin parks time to time, more 'safety theatre' than actual practical H&S, maybe that you could blame on bad press. There was a lot of that after the Smiler but not so much now.

 

[jon81uk]

There might still be overreactions at Merlin parks time to time, more 'safety theatre' than actual practical H&S, maybe that you could blame on bad press. There was a lot of that after the Smiler but not so much now.

That is basically what I meant in reply to

I wonder if it's just OTT Merlin safety procedures.

That the reason Merlin have some OTT procedures is in relation to the press. It does seem to have got a bit better more recently.

I agree that the standard procedures weren't well followed at one point, but after the press made too many silly headlines for routine stoppages on lift hills I think they switched to being too cautious in other areas, in addition to making sure the correct procedures were followed.

 

[Weby]

Was on park yesterday, Wickerman seemed back to its best in my opinion. There was no Squeaking from the train, it hit the flat turn and brakes at a much higher speed than recently. And there was also no stopping on the lift hill. Definitely felt like something had been done, even felt slightly smoother.

it did have a small period of downtime in the morning, so maybe there was some maintenance than ran into opening time. Either way It was top notch again.

On Monday (26/10) we stopped near the top of the lift hill for about 5-10 seconds. The ride itself felt a little more rickety, but was as fast as previous years. Only ever ridden it in the dark, which is how I think it should be ridden.

 

[Connor98]

On Monday (26/10) we stopped near the top of the lift hill for about 5-10 seconds. The ride itself felt a little more rickety, but was as fast as previous years. Only ever ridden it in the dark, which is how I think it should be ridden.

It is a fantastic night ride, with our without it’s lighting package. Tbh it might be better on ride without the extra lighting, it results in more dark sections on ride. It had rained at night on my visit last week and by my ride at 8:30, it was running ridiculously fast, I was back row and never felt it rag you down that first drop like it did that ride.

 

[Ethan]

Wicker man has reached capacity apparently. With all that queue line I wonder how long the queue is

 

[MattyH]

Somewhere in the region of two hours unfortunatley.

 

[Ethan]

Somewhere in the region of two hours unfortunatley.

Wow with social distancing that's impressive. I imagine normally it would probably be around 5 hours

 

[BeccaH]

I'm going tomorrow and I think our plan is to join the queue at 4.30ish depending on the queue time, so hopefully we don't queue for 70 mins+ but I'm ready for that plan to fail haha! Wondering if the roughness people are talking about will be more apparent later on in the day?

 

[KiMa]

I'm going tomorrow and I think our plan is to join the queue at 4.30ish depending on the queue time, so hopefully we don't queue for 70 mins+ but I'm ready for that plan to fail haha! Wondering if the roughness people are talking about will be more apparent later on in the day?

I'm also there tomorrow, was considering the same plan but last few times I've checked it's looked like it's been between 60 and 90 minute, I just don't want to lose the entire night in the Wicker Man queue haha

 

[Godscrasher]

Nope sorry.
Thorpe has a knife issue, press make a meal of it, then, very next day, enhanced security at BPB...many additional checks on entry to the park.
If the media hadn't picked it up, there would have been no additional security in Blackpool.
Businesses react to stories in the media, simple fact.

You're on about an event that can happen because of behaviors and motives. I was on about static rides in parks which were where the discussion originally came from, however, on your topic, you're not wrong.

 

[Godscrasher]

Merlin parks have definitely been a lot more risk-averse since the Smiler and Splash Canyon incidents. It is obvious that bad press following breakdowns and accidents has led them to be more cautious and do more than the minimum standard.

it's not 'bad press' that drives it, but what is now foreseeable as a consequence of the event on the ride.