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Accident at Alton Towers

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There's also pictures of people inspecting the trackwork up close at various parts.

Twitter rumour reckons it'll be open for scarefest, no chance imo.
 
Joey said:
Rattlesnake isn't even open yet

**** hell I cannot believe this is still closed, it really is time to get this back up and running. Not sure if its laziness, overprotectiveness, or a combination of the two. Its made by a completely different manufacturer from The Smiler ffs!
 
Does anyone know if Saw's capacity been nerfed? I've not been to Thorpe this year.

Re Rattlesnake, **** knows what the problem is. I heard Tomb Blaster is also closed, whether that's a coincidence or not we will probably never know for sure.

I would guess that enhanced h&s in areas unrelated to the accident is keeping Rattle closed. Obviously it initially closed following multi-car concerns, but the fact that even Saw is back up whilst Rattle isn't leads me to assume there's an unrelated issue they either encountered whilst reevaluating post-Smiler, or its some weird coincidence, which wouldn't surprise me given Chessie's appalling track record with ride availability.
 
I think this story has gone over the hump and is now on the decline.

Alton have accepted responsibility, those involved have admirably accepted their life-changing injuries and according to recent news reports, the public accept that it was a rare incident.

There will be a few more low-key sensationalised reports but the worst is over.

Maybe a re-opening this year would make sense. Open it in October, get all the related press out of the way and it'll be largely forgotten about by the start of the 2016 season.
 
Ian said:
Maybe a re-opening this year would make sense. Open it in October, get all the related press out of the way and it'll be largely forgotten about by the start of the 2016 season.

This is actually a brilliant idea! During the few months of the closed season the general public will have forgot about all the "Alton Towers reopens death trap ride" articles from The Daily Mail giving it a fairly fresh start in early Spring 2016.
 
Joey said:
Does anyone know if Saw's capacity been nerfed? I've not been to Thorpe this year.

When we were there Thursday and Friday it was on all 8 cars, even the week before it was on 8.
 
Was just discussing these recent developments on TT as they have gone into quite some detailed speculation (as they usually do). The current theory re the box in the pic is that it's an additional manual override button that means that to do an override an op must physically walk out and press this button (as well as others being pressed, possibly simultaneously), thus ensuring that the batwing is physically viewed (not via cctv) every time any manual override takes place. Could be wrong but this theory seems logical.

My personal deductions were that a) this points towards there being some element of human error having been involved in the incident for sure (we knew it was most likely but were not for 100% certain) and b) that hopefully this is one of a few changes as this doesn't solve other issues such as the stalling. The public will also be better pleased if they can announce that they've made a number of changes. Again, people discussed what the likely terms of the H&S investigation could be (i.e. would they even need to solve the stalling or could they just improve safety checking etc). It's all out there on their forum but I thought I'd condense the bits I had read recently as it is a mammoth thread!

So TLDR: One of possibly a number of positive changes seem to be taking place (if speculations are correct). Basically: Stuff is happening.

I will be quite shocked if it opens for scarefest as it seems unlikely but we'll see.
 
I really do hope it opens for scarefest, seeing it closed with no music or flashy lights just creates a strange atmosphere across X-Sector. The fact that these improvements are being done now when they could have just been done in the closed season also indicates that they will reopen it for scarefest.

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Override makes sense. Seems like an awful lot of faff brought on by the ride being built shoddily though.

Think Ian has a good point, open it at the tail end of the season without fuss and by next season it'll all be forgotten about. Though I still think the first time it breaks down will be breaking news.
 
SilverArrow said:
Was just discussing these recent developments on TT as they have gone into quite some detailed speculation (as they usually do). The current theory re the box in the pic is that it's an additional manual override button that means that to do an override an op must physically walk out and press this button (as well as others being pressed, possibly simultaneously), thus ensuring that the batwing is physically viewed (not via cctv) every time any manual override takes place. Could be wrong but this theory seems logica.
This makes a tonne of sense, not only because it adds a layer and another individual to give the all clear, but because I think they've done something very similar to this before.

I noticed last year that Dragons Fury at Chessie had a switch or something on the other side of the station the staff had to turn. I could be wrong, but I'm sure that never used to be there, because I remember the staff on that side used to be the really enthusiastic interactive ones who had free hands.



What people don't realise, even us, is that safety alterations to rides are made all the time even without accidents occurring. If something is deemed even possible, it changes the way things are done. I bet most of the operational changes we complain about are actually rooted in H&S, comes to think of it.

Anyone seen that new gate at Vampire's exit? Lol.



All this does still beg the question of whether Smiler was ever fit for purpose, though. I can never tell if its seemingly never ending list of problems is as bad as it looks, or if they're related or coincidental. The track separation incident is still the most shocking to me - but I'm not an engineer, I don't know how likely that really was. In the wake of the crash, I can't help wonder how they knew the track had separated and to stop operations, but not that a bloody great train, visible on CCTV, was... there. :(
 
owentaylor121 said:
The fact that these improvements are being done now when they could have just been done in the closed season also indicates that they will reopen it for scarefest.
I don't think it indicates any opening date. It makes sense from a PR point-of-view to do improvements/fixes in full view of the public rather than simply re-open in March with "yeah, we've done 'em, trust us"
 
I hope they release some info not only on the H&S report (and causes) but also on what they have done to reduce risks when they reopen it. The reason why this story is dragging on so much now is because of the speculation of the unknowns.
 
Joey said:
In the wake of the crash, I can't help wonder how they knew the track had separated and to stop operations, but not that a bloody great train, visible on CCTV, was... there. :(

That's a great point I had never even thought about before.

But yeah I agree with what others have already said, I think a scarefest opening makes sense even though it does seem unlikely. I guess they won't announce it or anything, it will just randomly open one day and then social media will go crazy. Then if it has a routine breakdown the press will jump on it, which is inevitable so may as well get it out of the way this season.
 
The Smiler has been testing this morning! Towers Street have a video on Facebook, I'm pretty certain for a Scarefest opening now!

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Wouldn't read too much into it just yet, could just be testing the new safety systems rather than testing it for opening.
 
Well yeah it's obvs still in the very early stages of testing, but still, testing is testing. It's a step in the right direction.
 
owentaylor121 said:
The Smiler has been testing this morning! Towers Street have a video on Facebook, I'm pretty certain for a Scarefest opening now!

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No.

Just because it's testing doesn't mean in any way it'll be open for Scarefest.

It just means it's testing - could be for anything. Some rides around the world have tested and then never opened.
 
Ben said:
owentaylor121 said:
The Smiler has been testing this morning! Towers Street have a video on Facebook, I'm pretty certain for a Scarefest opening now!

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No.

Just because it's testing doesn't mean in any way it'll be open for Scarefest.

It just means it's testing - could be for anything. Some rides around the world have tested and then never opened.
I should have worked it better, I'm more hopeful for it to be open for Scarefest now.

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I'm actually quite surprised that no track re-profiling or anything has been done to the batwing element to prevent it from stalling again.

When it inevitably stalls again its going to kick up a storm. Even if it only stalls while they are testing it like today.
 
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