Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Smiler shuts after wheel hits someone

The park should just keep it closed now and sort all the problems out in the off season, then get it working properly for the 2014 season! This ride has become a joke now.
 
I feel for Alton Towers now. It's getting ridiculous...
Is it Gerst's fault, then? If so, I would want some compensation.
 
Oh dear. Going to need major work over winter, if they can manage that.

I find it a little odd the report singles out the (fairly unremarkable) 30m drop as the ride's distinguishing feature rather than the fact it goes upside down several times!
 
The person could be been knocked out, very lucky to have bruising, did they ask to keep the wheel.
 
It's not an actual wheel from the ride trsin, from the picture I've seen on the net it's smaller guide wheels from some mechanism somewhere. Still, you get what you pay for and they paid for a Gerstlauer.
 
Looks like they bit of a little more than they could chew.
I wish them luck and hope they get it sorted, or at least riding better.
 
On Sky news they said its wheels from the chain guide that landed in the netting and bounced back up and hit the riders. I can't see the ride being reopened now with the season coming to an end, hopefully they can get the ride sorted during the off season and have a less problematic 2014.
 
If they bounced back up off the net then surely it'd be riders on the train coming down the first lift/drop that it came into contact with?
 
This was posted on Tower Time's Facebook page yesterday:

Paul Jones has captured this image, revealing that multiple bearings have fallen from the vertical lift hill of The Smiler, less than a week after a bolt came loose over the toilet block on Sunday:
Click to expand...

1454755_10152041206848185_969510517_n.png

https://www.facebook.com/towerstimes?fref=ts
 
Jiminy xmas.

This coaster's issues have issues. When I first read a wheel hit someone, thoughts of SD2K crossed my mind.
 
insanecoastervids said:
Track renovation anyone?
Click to expand...

I'd be asking for a refund.

For me though this isn't all down to Gerstlauer, Alton Towers came to them and asked them to construct a ridiculously compact and complicated coaster, there were always going to be complications.

The other Infinity Coaster, Karacho at Tripsdrill hasn't had any problems so far, but you're talking about a less complex coaster with a much simpler layout. However, many enthusiasts have described Karacho as a much better ride experience.

So yeah, bottom line Gerstlauer have to take some of the blame, mostly due to the fact they actually agreed to build it, but if Alton didn't keep on with this worlds first **** they could of actually built something similar to Karacho, which in my opinion would of been better received by the public and a lot less problematic.
 
Darren B said:
which in my opinion would of been better received by the public and a lot less problematic.
Click to expand...
You're probably right in what you say but I don't know of a coaster this well-received by the British general public for many years. The only thing against it is downtime but those who've ridden it seem to love it, and (unlike, say, The Swarm) the queues have been huge.
 
Regardless of the problems facing this ride its safe to say that this is and will remain to be a huge draw with the GP for years to come.
 
Tell the press that your ride has mysteriously chopped ride dummies arms and legs off and they're not interested in riding it.

Actually have a ride that spits out it's mechanical gubbings at you and they lap it up.
 
I don't get it at all.

I can totally understand how a layout that compact, long and complex would be an engineering nightmare to get to fit together as planed.

But what I don't get is:

a.) Why when it didn't fit together as planned, they didn't go "well ****, we'll have to remanufacture some parts now."

b.) Why, when a section of track under so much stress it pulled apart leaving a considerable gap in the track, did they not go "****, okay we REALLY need to keep it closed and remanufacture some parts now."

Also Smithy's post made my day. Exactly.
 
Robbie said:
I find it a little odd the report singles out the (fairly unremarkable) 30m drop as the ride's distinguishing feature rather than the fact it goes upside down several times!
Click to expand...

That's simple to answer. It's down to the press release "official information". Essentially, if you're a news organisation, you get sent a list of pertinent "stuff" that should get included in any reports about the thing.

The person writing the report just looks down the list of things and picks one that sounds like it'll fit. As it's from the official source, they know it's accurate* so can use it without worrying about having to actually look up any facts.

As for the "track not fitting" thing, I suspect that this is due to the ride not being constructed accurately enough. I don't think it's Gerstlauer's fault. Obviously, with the complexity of the track, it increases the chance of error creeping in, but I find it doubtful Gerstlauer manufactured track that was several inches out of tolerance. It's most likely a footer or two have not gone in completely straight, or have shifted a little causing the bad fit. What needs to happen in the off season is those footers need to be replaced and the track reassembled. I doubt if new track pieces need to be manufactured, unless it's cheaper to do that than to dig up and reset the footers.

Of course, if they hadn't screwed up the project and got it assembled on time instead of trying to rush it for opening season - or six weeks after opening ;) - they may have got it right :roll:

This new issue though is (I'm not going to say 100%, but in the high 90's) Gerstlauer's issue. If their parts are degrading rapidly, it's their problem. They know how to make vertical lift hills and they don't have this part of the ride under stress. They've either got a faulty part, or they're using cheap parts - but it shouldn't happen to a ride after only months of operation. Of course, maybe the engineers use the wrong lubricant or something, but it's doubtful.

It's unlucky it happened, as everyone is going to assume it's linked to the same issues that have plagued it all season, when in fact this is probably a fairly minor issue compared to the bigger problem the ride has actually fitting together.



*As long as the press release is accurate of course, this is where sometimes inaccuracies perpetuate.
 
Don't B&M's get put together in such a way that the footers aren't set until the track is all up?

Or, in other words, would this have happened with a B&M? No. Of course not. Why?

Even if it was the fault of contractors, Gerst signed the ride over to Alton in spite of the issue. It's their fault.

As for their parts not lasting, I bet that's a direct result of excessive strain the structure and the cars. Whilst these parts do not appear to have anything directly to do with it, I bet every part suffers slightly. It's too grand a coincidence otherwise.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk 2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top