Kennyweird

Just had to laugh that you are comparing Twilight to the Bible! lol I know, it's a really weird comparison, but to the creepy twilight moms, Twilight is the Bible.

How is this newsworthy?

I'm not sure why everyone is freaking out over this. People have been naming their kids after famous book characters since antiquity. For example, David, John, Jacob, Adam, Luke, Matthew, Joshua, Abraham, etc. are all names that came straight out of the Bible. It's really not that unusual.

Actually, non-destructive testing is fairly standard in the amusement park industry. For instance, Skycoaster Inc. requires that all their scissor lifts undergo yearly NDT weld analysis. Now, I don't know much about Expedition Geforce's wheel assemblies, but I'd have to imagine they take a lot more stress than a Skycoaster scissor lift. If Holiday Park wasn't performing regular NDT on the assemblies, they could be found negligent.

A more meaningful question would be "what prevented the trains from completely derailing?" I doubt Intamin gave this type of scenario much consideration, since it's never supposed to happen anyway. In a way, your question is kind of like asking what keeps a plane from crashing when its wings fall off. But to answer your question, I'm guessing the couplers between the cars kept it from completely derailing. Of course, we don't know much at this point, but I'm guessing this whole thing is the result of some really poor maintenance.

Damn. Looks like either a wheel bogie or the train's chassis somehow failed. I would not want to be Holiday Park right now.

Here's my redesign proposal. Let me know what you guys think.

I'd imagine those e-stops are there for programming and testing purposes. Obviously, the ride has to be programmed at some point, making it a good idea to have an e-stop handy in case the code doesn't work. For example, I know from talking with people that the Racer had it's fair share of glitches and coding errors last year when it's new computer was being programmed. I even heard that it blew through the station once without the brakes ever engaging.

Out, out, brief candle!

I've actually been to that mall before. Nothing but sketchy-looking Mexicans as far as the eye can see.

Woodie-steelie classification as of late has become pretty meaningless, IMO. For example, El Toro is technically a wooden coaster, yet it feels more like a steelie. I don't know how others feel about this, but when building material and ride experience no longer influence each other, I just feel the whole system loses its meaning.

I wonder if they'll use polyurethane wheels now that the track is steel. I'd imagine the tolerances are going to be much tighter; more on par with steel coasters than wood, so I don't see why they wouldn't.

This is very typical of skid brake equipped coasters. Having worked on a coaster with skid brakes, I can tell you they're not the most reliable or consistent things in the world. Their performance varies significantly depending on the temperature, they don't work very well when they get wet, sometimes trains get hung up on them, and to top it all off, they generate sparks. Generally though, they're still pretty safe.

Not really. The term "Killer whale" is a misconception brought about by their sheer size and toothy mouth. In reality, there have never been any confirmed fatal attacks on humans by wild orcas. All fatal attacks have occurred in captivity, probably as a result of stress (orcas have never done very well in captivity). Very sad, indeed. While I doubt they will discontinue their killer whale performances, there will probably be more safety measures in place during future shows to prevent accidents like this from occurring again. My condolences go out to the trainer's family and all who had to witness this horrible event.

Here in Pittsburgh, we have an urban legend called the green man. Supposedly, he was a power line worker who suffered a horrible shock somewhere in West Mifflin. He survived, but the shock horribly disfigured him, burned all his hair out, blew a hole in his cheek (which he likes to smoke cigarettes through), and turned his skin green. No one knows where he lives, but supposedly he only comes out only at night to hide his hideous deformity. The legend's probably based on several real life power line accidents.

Nah, it definitely looks better. It's actually funny how they fixed it. Instead of just replacing that whole section of track, they just changed the right rail to smooth it out a bit, which means some of the ties on the right are longer than the ties on the left.

That's why I wore hiking boots.

I drove down to Kennywood yesterday to check out the construction. Enjoy the pics. Oh yeah, King Kahuna's gone. Track. Nothing too interesting. Supports. Again, nothing too interesting. Footers. The footers for the launch are in the foreground, covered with insulated blankets to help them cure properly. Closeup of some footers. Don't know what's going on back there... One of two drill rigs that are digging holes for the footers. Swingshot with its cars removed for the winter. The Phantom, with it's slightly ghetto yet functional fix.

I voted no, but I still won't be too surprised if the do manage to open, however, I don't think they'll make it through the season.

Robb, if there is a lawsuit, whoever is running your apartment complex could be in quite a bit of trouble. Not only did the fire system fail to activate, but if it was indeed a chimney fire, they probably haven't been taking care of the fireplace as well. Cleaning the chimney annually to remove creosote buildup would have easily prevented this.

Reminds me of the time someone set one of the men's rooms on fire at my school. It didn't look quite as bad as this, but there was black smoke billowing out of the windows, especially after the firemen smashed them with their axes. What's scary is that there aren't any smoke detectors in the bathrooms (because students try to constantly smoke in them), so the only reason the alarm went off was because someone discovered the fire and pulled it.

Probably a good move. I've never been a fan of the old fashion ticket system, anyway.

I occasionally drink coffee. Not on a regular basis, though.

There was a discussion on this a few pages back. It was sold to a Costa Rican park and is currently being disassembled.

They are indeed pouring concrete. Here's a picture from Kennywood's facebook page to prove it.