Rougarou Valley

I may have missed it, but how was this resolved?

Unless I'm mistaken, don't they have to remove the train car by car? (after removing the humans of course)

Someone needs to invent a roller-coaster "tug-boat" of sorts that can fly in for situations like this.

I think they can winch it back to the station or the MCBR.

RideMan said:

I have mostly ignored Mantis:TCFKAB for the past fifteen years or so as I couldn't actually ride it. So I am hoping one of you can confirm or refute this for me. I seem to recall that Mantis:TCFKAB stopped on a safety brake at the end of the ride and held on the brake that sits at a right angle to the station. Then when the train went around the corner, there was only one holding brake on the transfer table before entering the station. Rougarou seems to have added a third brake between the old safety brake and the transfer table so that the train doesn't have to stop on the old safety brake, but can be brought down further towards the station. I wonder if that was done to eliminate the need to stop on the mid course if anything goes wrong, possibly because the train is so slow coming off the mid-course if it stops there.

I can confirm you are correct they have added a second holding brake directly behind the transfer table. I noticed this last week. I was in a Rougarou train when the ride stacked and one train was in the station, one was behind it on the transfer table, and the train I was on was directly behind train #2 (not at a right angle to the station.) The back two or three rows of train #3 were actually still banked from the last turn and being in the last row on the right side I felt uneasy because the banked turn felt alot steeper when I was stopped on it, with the swamp being directly under me. It does alleviate the whiplash that would occur when the ride would stack with the old setup, other than that and B&M's history of having a spare block I don't know why they would add a second brake. But wasn't part of the refurb having magnetic brakes installed on the ride? I wonder if the old right angle location is now a fixed magnetic brake that cannot "hold" a train anymore.

I'm not sure that's true. I recall being stopped in the exact same place back in the day when Mantis ran three trains.

And being that close to the end of the ride, I imagine they would winch the ride the last hill, not remove the train.

Here's an article from Fox 8, but it doesn't give much info:

http://fox8.com/2015/07/16/cedar-points-rougarou-roller-coaster-sto...it-safely/

Still had me worried. I don't want people to bash Rougarou! I love the Rougarou!

I'm the guy that posted the pic of the train on Twitter...

Unfortunately, I did not see the train valley in action. My eye caught it moving backward right as it was happening and I did not get to see its prior speed.

However, to evacuate:

They got a bunch of ladders and had the mechanics climb all over the train to get people out in weird angles. At one point the train was probably close to 55 degrees tilted - props to them evacuating without fire department.

Lift had to walk down. It was also fully loaded. At least we know the block works :)

I also find it very strange that it valleyed before the brake run. Not very steep. I'll be willing to bet it halted on the MCBR before the valley.

Doe anyone know If they were able to get the train back to the station? Fox 8 in that article said it would be open the next day.

I'm a little disappointed in myself that I'm totally in the dark about this. How does one winch the train back to the station? I've never witnessed this in action.

I just noticed on that Fox 8 article, the map shows the wrong Cedar Point. It showing a town, not the park. A fail on Fox 8's part.

Winching involves attaching a cable or cables to the train and then using a motor to move the train. In this case, they likely moved a winch into a position to pull the train up onto the brakes. Trains weigh a lot, so it takes a long time. Sometimes it makes more sense to remove the train and re-assemble it instead. I believe they have done that on Millennium Force, Mean Streak, Raptor, and probably others depending on where they valley.

That must have happened right around the time we got off. That's crazy.

In terms of trains going really slow after being stopped on the MCBR, Gatekeeper is the exact same way too. If you ever get to the park early enough and have the chance to watch them do morning tests while you're waiting for the main entrance gate to open, it creeps through the remained of the course.

Great reporting there Fox 8 . "Tense moments" "luckily it stopped at a valley and not top of hill". You all know these things just aren't safe! Although it could have been worse if they dispatched another train, like that could ever happen. ;-)

Opening Weekend 2013:

The Tedious process of winching Maverick

The even more cumbersome process of removing Millennium

Anyone know if Rougarou is running now?

Seems like it.

coasterJay said:

Great reporting there Fox 8 . "Tense moments" "luckily it stopped at a valley and not top of hill".

Yeah, they are pretty ridiculous, they also said the riders were able to "walk to safety", implying that sitting on a stopped train is somehow dangerous. Idiots!

Pete said: are pretty ridiculous, they also said the riders were able to "walk to safety", implying that sitting on a stopped train is somehow dangerous. Idiots!

Normally not dangerous at all, unless you recall an incident at Alton Towers a few months back - eeeek

Anybody go to the park today? If you did, we're they running 2 train operation all day or did they eventually open 3 train operation?