Trim Brakes

[verticalzero]

Why do parks install trim brakes along the course of a coaster's track.

 

Is it.:

 

1) The coaster had an accident and the park slows the ride down.

 

2) The Park get's complents the ride is 2 fast and people come out their seat 2 much..?

 

The Coaster designers do know the speed / G-Force etc when they design a coaster for a Park, they must feel sad when brakes are added to their rides.

 

What are your views..?

[Hilltopper39]

Using trim brakes along the course of the track allows the ride to aoperate more than one train at a time. You have to have a certain number of "blocks" to seperate the trains, and a trim brake creates a new block. Say a ride has 3 trains, there has be somewhere around 4-5 blocks(I think) so taht there is always an open block inbetween each train. So one trian in the station cannot begin the lift until the train on the lift has left the lift, and the train on the lift can't leave the lift till the train ahead of it has cleared the midcoarse block brake. I think this is the case atleast.

[Loefet]

A big reason to use trimbrakes is to slow the train down to reduce the g-forces on the track, so that the runningcost wil be reduced.

[viking86]

Using trim brakes along the course of the track allows the ride to aoperate more than one train at a time. You have to have a certain number of "blocks" to seperate the trains, and a trim brake creates a new block. Say a ride has 3 trains, there has be somewhere around 4-5 blocks(I think) so taht there is always an open block inbetween each train. So one trian in the station cannot begin the lift until the train on the lift has left the lift, and the train on the lift can't leave the lift till the train ahead of it has cleared the midcoarse block brake. I think this is the case atleast.

 

Trim brakes and mid-course brakeruns(MCBR) are two different things. MCBR's are used to make it possible to run multiple trains at the same time. Trim brakes however are very short brake segments and are only used to control the speed of the train through the track. They are too short to stop the train in most cases and are not considered to be blocks. But MCBR are also often used to slow down the train.

[FlyingScooter]

^^Loefet: That is true for MeanStreak!

I guess that ride was tearing itself apart.

[socalMAN123]

I'll use California Screamin @ DCA for an example. Before the collision between the two trains, there were no trim brakes whatsoever during the whole ride. But now, since the brake system failed, Disney put in two different spots of trim brakes that slow down the ride considerably. One right before the loop and the other right before the camel backs, which make for no chance of airtime. Just as viking said, trim brakes are not block brakes, but rather just places during the ride where random brakes slow the train down.

---Brent

[Shockwave]

Trim brakes are often essential for controlling the speed of a ride.

 

On Atlantica Supersplash (Europa Park), trims are used to control how fast the boats hit the water, and therefore the size of the splash it makes. In hot weather they can leave the brakes off, and in colder times they can lower the boat speed to ensure people don't get too wet.

[Hilltopper39]

Yeah, Mean Streak and Mantis both have a 'trim' on the first drop.