The Control Panel Enthusiast Thread

[DrachenfireOP]

^ the dispatch lock is an interesting idea. At BGW, we weren't allowed in the ride area unless power was off, so our lock out box got the power key inside it. I think the rationale is that trains could move under certain circumstances if power was still on, so station dispatch wasn't enough.

 

Of course, they had an employee death in the ride area in 93 so they take lockouts very seriously there.

[scottm13]

Newer coasters at SFGAm utilize two types of lockouts, a lift lockout and a ride control lockout. Older coasters use the cover on the dispatch button because ride operators cannot restart their own rides, so half the rides would open late every day just because they were waiting for someone to restart the ride after the morning trackwalk. The flaw to this system is that everything short of advancing trains is still possible, so if there was a train stopped in a block or on the lift it could still be cleared and move again.

[Physical]

On Demon Drop we utilize a ride lockout that cuts power to the lift, brakes, and station transports, stopping all of them. It doesn't, however, cut power to /everything/ like a normal e-stop does. Same thing goes on Thunder Creek Mountain, it cuts power to everything except the water pumps (if you cut power to those the flume drains)

 

Demon Drop also has an ops console lockout, but this is rarely used. It cuts power to everything, acts the same as an e-stop, it just has the ability to lock as well.

 

Demon Drop, unlike other rides, e-stops itself after 20 minutes of no activity, thus necessitating the need for ride ops to clear our own e-stops (as it's not a super popular ride, and sometimes shuts itself off mid day.)

 

Simply start up the ride as normal, hit emergency reset, and you're good to go. Maintenance mode is only for manual clearing of blocks, and manually advancing cars, or the lift. Seeing Maintenance manually advance the lift is pretty cool actually, as it goes up super slow. They usually do that after rainfall to test the anti-rollbacks. Manually raise a car to each one, somebody down at the lift motor manually engages the lift clutch, lift drops slightly, but the car bites in the anti-rollbacks.

[DrachenfireOP]

Interesting to see how different parks handle things slightly different. At BGW we can start our own coasters from scratch, so no problem taking the power key out. However, we cannot reset any fault, so if an e-stop was hit, we can't reset that without maintanence.

 

Also ops don't usually do morning track walks, that's done by maintanence as part of green tagging each morning. We basically show up with the correct number of starting trains already on the track, but the power is off. Sometimes if green tagging is running late they'll just hand the ride off as is so we can get the line opening, but that's rare.

 

Also there are some add-on procedures to save time for safety concerns. For example, LNM has more evacs than normal coasters, but the access to the two lifts and block brakes are in fairly remote, difficult to get to locations. So they actually have remote lockout stations at the bases of the lift hills, so supervisors from other areas of the park can come assist with the evac, and they can do multiple trains at once, with every cast member still locked out.

 

I'll try to dig up a picture of the remote lockout station when later.

[Physical]

Also ops don't usually do morning track walks

 

That reminds me, in the morning, part of the daily tests that the ops have to do on Demon Drop, consists of testing all the e-stops and airphones on the ride. There's one on the brake run, one at the base of the tower, and one all the way up on top of the tower. Basically you set the ride to daily tests, and send people all over the ride to test 'em.

 

The view from the top is actually pretty nice, and tbh I'd much rather climb Demon Drop than Steel Force

 

 

 

[El Toro_Ryan]

I can't post anything at the moment but once the season is over, I have a few pics of Toro's and Ka's panels. Plus lots of infield pics/ testing videos of Toro I took during various track walks.

[DJeXeL]

Well here's Toro's....

I'm eager to see Ka's though.

 

Images from OnRideCentral Flickr page.

Maintenance panel view

[Millennium310]

I find it so interesting to read how other parks operate. I'd love to hear the extent to which Cedar Fair allows its ops to handle certain situations if anyone knows. It seems that Six Flags is quite restrictive of its team members which is probably a good thing, but it could also harm capacity in some cases. The only button ops are allowed to use on the maintenance (red) side of the Superman control panel is the "Chassis Down" button, which is used if the chassis pins aren't locking due to a car being too heavy. (In addition to the "Stop" buttons of course) I should also note that a key is inserted during operation so power can be cut to the ride completely in the event that E-Stop doesn't work.

[DJeXeL]

In CF's case, it varies from park to park. For example, at KBF, operators are not allowed to add OR remove coaster trains. Has to be done 100% by maintenance. At CP operators are allowed to do that.

 

Ryan,

What does "Motor-Drive warm up mode" do?

[DoinItForTheFame]

I'm eager to see Ka's though.

 

It's AMAZING what you can find if you look... or search through this thread.

 

[Comeagain?]

I'm eager to see Ka's though.

 

It's AMAZING what you can find if you look... or search through this thread.

 

 

Ryan can likely get us a much better picture.

[coasterkid124]

Yeah, I would definitely like to see a close up of Ka's with visible labels to compare with TTD's. Good to see a lot of the big coasters popping up on this thread!

[DJeXeL]

I'm eager to see Ka's though.

 

It's AMAZING what you can find if you look... or search through this thread.

 

 

Ryan can likely get us a much better picture.

 

Exactly! I've already seen that picture.

[Comeagain?]

I should also note that a key is inserted during operation so power can be cut to the ride completely in the event that E-Stop doesn't work.

 

Wait what? Why would the E-stop not work? What kind of situation would mean it didn't work? Those are generally fail safe. And a "true" estop cuts power to the entire attraction (save for maybe the PLC itself) anyway.

[scottm13]

Yeah, I would definitely like to see a close up of Ka's with visible labels to compare with TTD's. Good to see a lot of the big coasters popping up on this thread!

[attachment=0]Picture 002.jpg[/attachment]

Better photo from when it was first installed. Its interesting to note the difference in the amount of key-switches and buttons on the newer photo. Along with the E-Stop guard which I assume was installed because people were pressing it when reaching for the phone.

 

I should also note that a key is inserted during operation so power can be cut to the ride completely in the event that E-Stop doesn't work.

 

Wait what? Why would the E-stop not work? What kind of situation would mean it didn't work? Those are generally fail safe. And a "true" estop cuts power to the entire attraction (save for maybe the PLC itself) anyway.

It is just an added redundancy.

[DJeXeL]

Yeah, I would definitely like to see a close up of Ka's with visible labels to compare with TTD's. Good to see a lot of the big coasters popping up on this thread!

 

I can breakdown a few buttons on the console:

 

-5 Blue buttons on top row are block resets but during normal operation they light up solid if a train is present in that particular block.

-E-Stop upper left corner (Pretty obvious)

-Red indicator on green portion of panel is the "Trouble" light.

-2 green buttons on bottom of green portion of panel are dispatch buttons

-Black non-illuminated push button in green section is the launch spiel

-3-position key switch on red section is main ride power. Position 1: Off 2: On 3: E-Stop Reset (Key can't be left in this position)

 

Ryan, Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[coasterkid124]

Better photo from when it was first installed. Its interesting to note the difference in the amount of key-switches and buttons on the newer photo.

 

Two of the added ones near the bottom may be for a launch boost button. I don't see that on the original panel.

[coasterkid124]

Yeah, I would definitely like to see a close up of Ka's with visible labels to compare with TTD's. Good to see a lot of the big coasters popping up on this thread!

 

I can breakdown a few buttons on the console:

 

-5 Blue buttons on top row are block resets but during normal operation they light up solid if a train is present in that particular block.

-E-Stop upper left corner (Pretty obvious)

-Red indicator on green portion of panel is the "Trouble" light.

-2 green buttons on bottom of green portion of panel are dispatch buttons

-Black non-illuminated push button in green section is the launch spiel

-3-position key switch on red section is main ride power. Position 1: Off 2: On 3: E-Stop Reset (Key can't be left in this position)

 

Ryan, Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yep, those I got, I recognized their similarity with pictures I seen of TTD's panel. Thank you for the clarification. Brings back memories of running/fixing Ride of Steel for me. Although the accelerator coasters are much more complex, all of the Intamin panels seem to have a similar setup.

[Comeagain?]

It is just an added redundancy.

 

What would the key be doing differently more reliably than the button?

[DJeXeL]

Yep, those I got, I recognized their similarity with pictures I seen of TTD's panel. Thank you for the clarification. Brings back memories of running/fixing Ride of Steel for me. Although the accelerator coasters are much more complex, all of the Intamin panels seem to have a similar setup.

 

Yep. My 5 1/2 years at XC @ KBF helped me piece together the panel as well.

[scottm13]

It is just an added redundancy.

 

What would the key be doing differently more reliably than the button?

I'm not disagreeing with you that it is fail safe. Just think about it. If somehow an E-Stop failed, there is still another way to cut power to the ride. If there was not a key in the panel and in some instance where the E-Stop fails and doesn't prevent something from happening, there is potential for a lawsuit. Because they could make the argument that if there had been a key in the panel that it wouldn't have happened. Its the same logic behind the Texas Giant lawsuit. They claimed that if Six Flags had installed seat belts then it wouldn't have happened, and to them there is no reason why there shouldn't be seat belts.

[Comeagain?]

It is just an added redundancy.

 

What would the key be doing differently more reliably than the button?

I'm not disagreeing with you that it is fail safe. Just think about it. If somehow an E-Stop failed, there is still another way to cut power to the ride. If there was not a key in the panel and in some instance where the E-Stop fails and doesn't prevent something from happening, there is potential for a lawsuit. Because they could make the argument that if there had been a key in the panel that it wouldn't have happened. Its the same logic behind the Texas Giant lawsuit. They claimed that if Six Flags had installed seat belts then it wouldn't have happened, and to them there is no reason why there shouldn't be seat belts.

 

I guess so. I misread the OP to mean there was a key that in the event of some sort of malfunction where an estop couldn't be pressed someone could insert and turn a key to cut power to the ride. Seemed a little silly.

[Physical]

In CF's case, it varies from park to park. For example, at KBF, operators are not allowed to add OR remove coaster trains. Has to be done 100% by maintenance. At CP operators are allowed to do that.

 

Ryan,

What does "Motor-Drive warm up mode" do?

 

At Dorney, most of our rides, the transfers are done by the ops, we even have a code to call in to comms if we need to add/remove a train. There's some exceptions, like Thunder Creek Mountain, where maintenance puts X boats in for the day and that's what we have to work with. It seems Dorney allows a lot more things to be handled by the ops instead of maintenance. Basically, if we're capable of fixing it ourselves, we can. The only exception would be anything that involves mechanical or direct electrical work. Those are handed off to maintenance. Some rides have checklists if the ride gets stuck, so operators can /sometimes/ unstick them without having to phone up maintenance.

 

It's nice, I like to get hands on with the rides. Having to climb a 131 foot tower every morning doesn't sound appealing, until you start doing it. Then it's quite nice.

[Millennium310]

^^ Indeed, that is correct. I apologize if my wording wasn't clear, but the key is a way for ops to manually ensure that the panel is completely off in the extremely unlikely and rare event that both the main operator and enabler's E-Stop buttons didn't work. Now, if only there were a button to change the song that plays in the station every now and again...

[DrachenfireOP]

BGW was always odd to me because only maintanence could add or remove trains. This made sense on a ride like wolf, where before 1996 you could accidentally crash a train into the ground (until it happened during green tagging and then they invented a safety system to prevent it)

 

But CP ops don't seem to have any problem adding or removing trains.

 

However, even though ops don't do that on coasters at BGW, they DO add/remove boats at the log flume, which involves putting on waders, standing in the trough, and physically pushing the oncoming boat away lol. They also cross th trough by stepping on a boat, and while you can't walk a coaster lift without locking out, the flume requires ops walking the catwalks while the ride is going.

 

But that's how they do it, as having been a person standing in the flume trough in waders many times, I must say it was my favorite ride in the park other than Le Mans!