Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[Werner]

Sorry to say, but i don't see solar panels in these pictures. Or am i overlooking something?

[TXman308]

^On the arm in the background they're the diagonal plates. We're only seeing the back of them.

[Dobba]

More themeing has been added to the Flasher leg of the Marmaliser

The now completed second dive loop (Thanks to The Alton Towers Guide Facebook)

Current state of the Vertical Lift hill trench (Thanks to TowersStreet Facebook)

The station is now almost completely closed up (Thanks to TowersStreet Facebook)

 

Alton Towers have posted 6 photographs onto the Smiler website that were taken from the crane when they were installing the third leg of the Marmaliser (I won't post these directly because there has been progress since then and I don't want to confuse people!)

 

http://www.the-smiler.com/the-ride/

(Click on construction)

Edited April 5, 2013 by Dobba

[TPDave]

^I love that last pic, for a second it looks like a triple corkscrew!

[rctneil]

This ride is just looking more and more insane each time I see progress on it. Going to look really nice once each part is all linked up (eg the track on top of the toilet building)

[RCT3Bross]

I got a Lift hill update. Some of the track has arrived and something rather curious is about it.

Chains and motor are at the parking lot.

Top of the vertical lift.

This is rather odd, no Anti-rollback. We see some trims and a magnet, will it have anything to do with the world first feature?

All pictures are from Towersstreets facebook page.

 

What do you think about the missing anti-rollback?

[TyRush]

Maybe an elevator lift! But that wouldnt be a worlds first

[necoastergp]

This is the most twisted and convoluted track layout ever. Insane.

[coasterfreak101]

I've more or less been expecting the ride to launch up the first "lift" hill since day one. Maybe it actually will! Thought on the world's first - it launches you up the hill and rolls back, then launches faster the second time? They could play that off as some sort of first (it's like a combination of Grizzly Gulch and the impulses).

[SharkTums]

Just getting caught up on this...how has there not been more discussion/debate/complaints about the trains?

 

OTSR's on this have me really concerned and give me flash backs to the terrible head banging on the Belantis Eurofighter.

[Zcev5454]

Maybe an elevator lift! But that wouldnt be a worlds first

What about the chains then?

[TyRush]

Maybe an elevator lift! But that wouldnt be a worlds first

What about the chains then?

There are two lifts or whatnot rumored. So maybe one is an elevator lift with the other being vertical lift. Its just a guess since i have no idea what the world beating element is

[TyRush]

Just getting caught up on this...how has there not been more discussion/debate/complaints about the trains?

 

OTSR's on this have me really concerned and give me flash backs to the terrible head banging on the Belantis Eurofighter.

I know im shocked, The England fan boys are so easy going! I think most people are satisfied they are getting 14 inversions, i was hoping to see lapbars, but it will be awesome either way.

[coasterfreak101]

I still kind of have faith that something is going to happen between the 0-G and the end of the first lift. Whether it's a launch, a piece of track that rotates, rises and drops, tilts, flips, or whatever, I feel like something's inside that building that should be pretty cool.

[necoastergp]

Just getting caught up on this...how has there not been more discussion/debate/complaints about the trains?

 

OTSR's on this have me really concerned and give me flash backs to the terrible head banging on the Belantis Eurofighter.

I know im shocked, The England fan boys are so easy going! I think most people are satisfied they are getting 14 inversions, i was hoping to see lapbars, but it will be awesome either way.

 

This ride could cause quite the headache with the otsr's. Interested in seeing the first reviews come in on this one.

[simon8899]

I think most of us could handle lapbars on a ride like this but sadly many riders can't. Riding the Schwarzkopf Double-Loop recently I've seen riders badly banging their hands on the loops while the train goes between them. I remember this got very bad at times on the Dreier Looping with poeple hurting themselves on the supports. So later on most Schwarzkopf trains were equipped with the shoulder-clamps. Of course most of us would knew to only raise the arms for the loops but most other poeple don't.

 

As I like inversion coasters I'm full in for 14 inversions. And in the first years this will defenitly be good.

[BudtheWeiser]

WELL Hopefully for the first two seasons this should be very smooth then after that if saw is anything to go by it will have good and really bad days so ride it quick is a good option lol

[JayTricky]

WELL Hopefully for the first two seasons this should be very smooth then after that if saw is anything to go by it will have good and really bad days so ride it quick is a good option lol

 

I point you towards this good explanation from TowersTimes.

 

i was basically explaining what is wrong with saw, and it comes down to a very basic design flaw.

The front row overhangs the front wheel bogies by quite some distance, which over the years has placed undue stress on the pilot pivot/coupler between the two rows (see diagram below).

The "roughness" is actually mostly on the front row, with the back row not affected as much, as it's supported by wheel bogies both in front, and behind the row.

Because of the extra "play" in the pilot car joint, the front row actually bounces in front of the front wheel bogies, when under high G-forces. Next time you are on it you will notice it now I've said it.

 

Here's a basic diagram explaining what is causing the problem, followed by the best side-on view of one of the cars I could find:

 

(from Google image search)

 

As you can see by the diagram, there will be excessive "leverage" force being applied to the pivot point due to the sheer amount of force applied to the right of the fulcrum. This force is further multiplied by the massive difference in length between the pilot to the fulcrum, and fulcrum to the front of the car, and futher multiplied under the force of gravity.

This force will be further enhanced from the back rows weight, also pushing down on this joint, but not as severe due to the support from the rear wheel bogies.

To any mechanical engineer, this is a fundamental design flaw, that is obvious to anyone with even a basic engineering education, so how/why Gerst seemed to miss it, I will never know.

I can only hope the positioning of the wheels on The Smiler is further forward, or has been addressed in some other way, other wise it will fall prey to the same degradation of smoothness that Saw has experienced. It's difficult to tell from the current images, but it does look like the bogies DO attach further forward on Smiler's chassis, so all hope is not yet lost

 

Hope this has been enlightening for you all 8)

 

Makes sense to me.

[BudtheWeiser]

That is an awesome explanation cant remeber where I sat last time on Saw but boy it knocked me into next week so was probably the front

[RCT3Bross]

^^ I took the opportunity to bring back the picture of the trains:

Source: Alton Towers.

They look to be more in the middle to the front of the chassis. I hope that solves the problem with the trains.

[coasterfreak101]

How interesting. One of the few mech-E things in life I understand!

[rcjp]

^^ I took the opportunity to bring back the picture of the trains:

Source: Alton Towers.

They look to be more in the middle to the front of the chassis. I hope that solves the problem with the trains.

 

That will probably be okay. The positioning of the wheels is a bit like the ones on B&M floorless coasters. (in the middle)

[Bane]

Just getting caught up on this...how has there not been more discussion/debate/complaints about the trains?

 

OTSR's on this have me really concerned and give me flash backs to the terrible head banging on the Belantis Eurofighter.

I know im shocked, The England fan boys are so easy going! I think most people are satisfied they are getting 14 inversions, i was hoping to see lapbars, but it will be awesome either way.

 

It depends, my experiences of Eurofighters isn't all that great, Saw and Speed both in the UK, and they are both really uncomfortable. A lot of us are concerned that The Smiler will be a head banger because it hasn't got lapbars, and I share the concerns of many others about it!

 

I am hardly a Towers fanboy, but I was looking forward to riding The Smiler until the announcement about those trains was made.

[RCT3Bross]

Towerstimes had a aerial update today for the compleet public right away, I only show you one and got a link for the rest.

http://www.towerstimes.co.uk/sw7/construction/

Looks awesome from above got me exited. Also the second airtime hill is completed, so we'll be able to see the other 2 arms come up very soon.

[Randomman295]

^Good GOD, I still can't keep track of the layout!

Glad to finally see an aerial shot, thanks for posting that.