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Going Underground

choluby

choluby

Roller Poster
Why does Oblivion go so far underground?
Is it because the G's would be too high otherwise?
Or is it simply to make it smooth?
 

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Don't AT have a certain height restriction for all their rides as it is 'an area of natural beauty'? No coaster is over 70ft above ground...

Nemesis is in a valley
Th13teen is almost 70 ft
Rita doesn't go very high
Air sticks to the terrain

And the new ride(s) are built in a hole...


Also to scare people and for effect...
 
^Really?

I've never heard of that before?

Can you please post more about this, I'm intrigued.
 
Well, to answer the original post. It is due to the simple fact that it's designed to go a Drop Tower Coaster. A caoster which simulates a droptower by giving you airtime, but if it just dropped to ground level, it would barely have airtime
 
Wait, surely it was designed to be a vertical drop roller coaster, in B&M's original patent plans they have a tunnel in it. John Wardley merely took this idea into the Oblivion plans, he wanted it x height and Alton said they can't go that high, so they buried it. The drop is around 100ft underground i think...;

Oblivion3.jpg
 
^Pretty much correct as I understand it.

Oblivion has a drop of 180ft, but is only 65ft above the ground. That means its sitting in a 115ft hole (at least). It goes underground to allow it to actually have a good drop, and Alton (or John Wardley) used that to their advantage to theme the ride. :D

This picture gives a great impression of how far underground Oblivion goes:
4jd0d1p7k5mg6gmm00m4o0.jpg

I think the ground level at Alton is just above the bridge level in that picture. I always find it impressive there's that much buried underground!
 
Off on a tangent about Oblivion.

The picture Dave posted. On top of the shell above where the track levels out, would it likely be filled in from there to the ground? Or is it more than likely going to remain hollow with a covering bit of concrete over it?
 
^That's an interesting question. Considering there's a whole building and stuff on top too, I suspect that they filled the hole in all the way. That would have allowed them to just build the other building 'as-if-there-was-nothing-underneath'.


EDIT: This picture looks kinda like they put a roof on and then filled it in:
oblivion3.jpg

So maybe that answers the question? Or is that the floor?

Here's the construction archive on TowersTimes, can someone work it out?
http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/history/co ... livion.htm
 
Hixee said:
I think the ground level at Alton is just above the bridge level in that picture. I always find it impressive there's that much buried underground!
Click to expand...

That's always amazed me too. I love seeing the construction pictures too, like the one Dave posted. It really gives an idea of the scale of the ride. I'd guess that they filled in the hole too. Especially with building on top of it. I don't think they would be able to just leave it hollow with building on top of it. I could be wrong, but that's what I reckon.
 
I can't quite figure it out either Hixee from those pics, in the distance on the first one it looks like the rubble and the fresh concrete for the drop aren't touching but then there's mesh on the side which you'd think was in place to pour fresh stuff. Can't tell.

Only reason I wondered was that it'd be an absolutely immense weight pressing down onto the roof of that tunnel if it was entirely filled, but if it was kept mostly hollow surely vibrations would be an issue?
 
^Hmm... very true about the weight, but then again there are much bigger tunnels that support much larger amounts of mass (think Channel Tunnel, Mt. Blanc Tunnel, Box Tunnel etc). It wouldn't surprise me if they could design something to support the weight of all that earth.

I can't see if being a massive cavity purely because there's a pretty large building on top. Plus vibration may be an issue like you said.
 
True about the bigger weights, but then weren't they all bored out from below and then supported from above the exavation rather than dug out from above and filled in? What we need is an engineer, or at least somebody a bit more technically minded than myself to explain :p
 
^Yeah, true. Didn't think of it like that. I mean, I'm on the way to being an engineer, but I deal with moving stuff. Need a civil expert to explain it! :P

I'm saying it's filled in not because I can explain why that is true, more that I think the other option is really unlikely.
 
CoasterCrazy said:
Don't AT have a certain height restriction for all their rides as it is 'an area of natural beauty'? No coaster is over 70ft above ground...

Nemesis is in a valley
Th13teen is almost 70 ft
Rita doesn't go very high
Air sticks to the terrain

And the new ride(s) are built in a hole...


Also to scare people and for effect...
Click to expand...

That's why thunderlooper was taken away
 
I started to read this topic and I started to weep... Then it got quite interesting, now I'm blubbering again on this fresh page.

I'm not going to quote the tripe that was posted, but AltonTowersFan's post is possibly one of the most awful I've actually read on here. It was badly written, full of typos/spelling errors and a complete load of made up drivel. There are more positive arguments for the evolution of wasps than there are for support of a post like. Please, sort it out ATF!

If I remember correctly from reading planning applications and stuff from research into the noise abatement order, Thunderlooper was actually only on a temporary planning application and was never meant to be there for more than a handful of seasons anyway...
 
I'm thinking of the original london underground lines which were cut and covered. They have a lot of buildings over them. But have a shallow depth...so not sure if that helps?
 
^Yeah. That's what I think they've done here. They'll have made an extremely strong supporting roof, piled it all back in, the built the other building on top. Possibly straddling the trench slightly.
 
Ben said:
^Really?

I've never heard of that before?

Can you please post more about this, I'm intrigued.
Click to expand...

All I know is that AT is a 'beautiful' place with the valley and everything and they're not allowed to go over 70ft otherwise it would spoil the area! A bit like a listed place...A friend told me - that's all!

choluby said:
That's why thunderlooper was taken away
Click to expand...
Actually, I don't think so, I'm pretty sure it was because of excessive noise from the area...probably partly the reason though...
 
furie said:
I'm not going to quote the tripe that was posted, but AltonTowersFan's post is possibly one of the most awful I've actually read on here. It was badly written, full of typos/spelling errors and a complete load of made up drivel. There are more positive arguments for the evolution of wasps than there are for support of a post like. Please, sort it out ATF!
Click to expand...
As far as I know furie, I didn't write that post :shock:
Could someone be hacking my CF account?
 
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