Rob
Mega Poster
Stop moaning, across the pond our accelerators are broken all the time =P. We get used to the lack of them.
With regards to the general accelerators are unreliable debate, I do find the ride type quite unreliable, but it really does vary from coaster to coaster. One of our members as I'm sure you all know was the Stealth head engineer and he worked extremely hard to get Stealth working correctly, yet he still told me on several occasions the ride threw up issues he was unprepared for. Simply put something's just happen and can't really be fixed within the scheduled time, budgets or limitations the engineers have.
I guess that's where you get the park to park issues with accelerators and the bad reputation they have over here, atleast. What can be said is in comparrison to other similar rides, they are very unreliable. Simple way to get a fair view of this is to look at Thorpe Park and Alton Towers. All their rides will be subject to similar maintenence limitations, and the B&M rides are always the most reliable, with the three Intamin's (Rita, Stealth and Colossus) falling behind. Clearly the ride type/manufacture are not the best, but this would vary from ride to ride, complexity of ride systems compared with B&M (ie: hydraulic launch vs. chain lift) and aging and subsequent effects of insufficient maintenence in earlier life (ie: Colossus) taken into account.
With regards to the general accelerators are unreliable debate, I do find the ride type quite unreliable, but it really does vary from coaster to coaster. One of our members as I'm sure you all know was the Stealth head engineer and he worked extremely hard to get Stealth working correctly, yet he still told me on several occasions the ride threw up issues he was unprepared for. Simply put something's just happen and can't really be fixed within the scheduled time, budgets or limitations the engineers have.
I guess that's where you get the park to park issues with accelerators and the bad reputation they have over here, atleast. What can be said is in comparrison to other similar rides, they are very unreliable. Simple way to get a fair view of this is to look at Thorpe Park and Alton Towers. All their rides will be subject to similar maintenence limitations, and the B&M rides are always the most reliable, with the three Intamin's (Rita, Stealth and Colossus) falling behind. Clearly the ride type/manufacture are not the best, but this would vary from ride to ride, complexity of ride systems compared with B&M (ie: hydraulic launch vs. chain lift) and aging and subsequent effects of insufficient maintenence in earlier life (ie: Colossus) taken into account.
