Was watching a POV for the Diamondback and the thought hit me how they go about inspecting the track daily.  I know from reading other posts/articles that woodies like The Beast, Racer, etc. that someone walks the track every morning before it opens.  Do rides like the Diamondback get inspected the same?  Or do they do more of a from the ground inspection?  And/or climb up at certain points and do spot checks??

Really good question. I am not sure, hopefully others can chime in here for I do not have an answer for you.

Others can chime in, but I believe that once a week they do more thorough inspections.  I am not sure if they clime the entire length of the track, or not.  I would imagine that they would do something more than just a walk from the ground.  Obviously they will inspect the lift and the sensors on the lifts every day.

They absolutely do not walk the steel coaster track daily, if ever.  I believe they have used X-Ray machines that run along the rails to inspect the track, but the maintenance requirements aren't as high as the wooden coasters.

I have read railroads use electromagnetic sensors and such to create signatures of what good sections of track look like and can compare to find faults. Parks could probably do the same but then again railroads have many more miles of track to inspect and maintain than a park so it might not be as feasible on such a small scale.  

They could use drones.

I have a few little insights on this!

I know recently a enthusiast page posted about some equipment being on Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland, and that equiptment was most likely the NDT they do for the trackwork (NDT standing for Non-destructive testing) 

If you have ever ridden Dominator, you may notice that in the transfer they have a maintenance ball covered up. I do believe CF possibly has a few of these that ship around from park to park to test all the B&M's every few years. Keep in mind that the track and rails are solid structures that even though they take a lot of stress, do not break as easily. That's why CF does a complete winter maintenance of all of it's rides where everything comes off, stripped down to the very last bolt and is tested before being put back together and back on the track for another year of fun! 

Not sure if anyone saw it, but Carowinds had some cool gyroscopic, ball shaped vehicle that can "drive" along the track for Fury. It looked really cool. I'll insert a link if I find it again. 

6 minutes ago, sixohdieselrage said:

Not sure if anyone saw it, but Carowinds had some cool gyroscopic, ball shaped vehicle that can "drive" along the track for Fury. It looked really cool. I'll insert a link if I find it again. 

That sounds really cool. I've never heard of anything like it. I'm assuming it attaches to the track via wheels? I'd love to see this thing so I can understand it better.

I got a response from Don on this question.

There are parts of the ride the maintenance workers walk the track (up the lift and block areas) every morning. The entire ride course is walked from the ground level. With steel coasters, you're looking at the foundation, footers, and welds, and how the coaster sounds during test cycles.

Thanks @DonHelbig for the info!

Where is @AZ Kinda Guy when you need him?

Here is the device I was taking about for Fury. It looks pretty cool. I assume by their wording is they use it once every year before opening day. Click on the link above or watch below. It is on their YouTube page. 

 

I was about to post the same thing. Just watch the video above .

I am trying to find it but there is a video of individuals climbing the coasters using ropes to inspect them.  If I remember correctly it’s from Kings Dominion.

My hope was someone might be able to link it before I can find it again.

 

Found it

Typically something like this is done annually at most.  It is just not possible or needed to do this frequently.

^Nope.  No way, no how.  Even if I remembered all my knots from Scouting, I would not do this.

^Nope.  No way, no how.  Even if I remembered all my knots from Scouting, I would not do this.

It’s all in what you know and are required to do. I’d do this no issues at all. Then again, scouting knots aren’t going to cut it. This is life safety knots all the way.

If I could get over my fear of falling, I'd love to have a job like this. But I'll leave this to the pros, haha.

It’s all in what you know and are required to do. I’d do this no issues at all. Then again, scouting knots aren’t going to cut it. This is life safety knots all the way.

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If I could get over my fear of falling, I'd love to have a job like this. But I'll leave this to the pros, haha.


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You overcome the fear of falling from getting used to doing the ropes and knots on the ground. Then you try indoor rock climbing and rappelling. Keep it low, under a few stories. Then try 5 stories. After that, height won’t bother you. We have a ladder truck at work that is 105’ high at an 85 degree climbing angle.

The fall isn’t the problem, it’s the sudden stop when you reach the ground...

Thump and bump

On 11/21/2018 at 11:52 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

Where is @AZ Kinda Guy when you need him?

Pretty much what Don said....To add on to it, it’s rather fascinating how quickly you get acclimated to how the ride is supposed to sound. A trained ear can pick up on even the slightest abnormal noise that other people wouldn’t notice. I believe we had an example of this involving Invertigo while waiting at the front gate a few years ago @BoddaH1994!

1 hour ago, AZ Kinda Guy said:

Pretty much what Don said....To add on to it, it’s rather fascinating how quickly you get acclimated to how the ride is supposed to sound. A trained ear can pick up on even the slightest abnormal noise that other people wouldn’t notice. I believe we had an example of this involving Invertigo while waiting at the front gate a few years ago @BoddaH1994!

Haha... I’m shocked you remembered that! 

It made a strange noise and you were like, “Uh oh. Miscatch.” And then it did.

15 hours ago, AZ Kinda Guy said:

Pretty much what Don said....To add on to it, it’s rather fascinating how quickly you get acclimated to how the ride is supposed to sound. A trained ear can pick up on even the slightest abnormal noise that other people wouldn’t notice. I believe we had an example of this involving Invertigo while waiting at the front gate a few years ago @BoddaH1994!

 

13 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Haha... I’m shocked you remembered that! 

It made a strange noise and you were like, “Uh oh. Miscatch.” And then it did.

 

That's me at Vortex! I have worked there there long enough to tell if a train miscatches on the lift or if a train arriving on the safety brakes either slows down or stops just by listening. I have also been able to suspect any possible abnormality on the trains (or at the very least, a noise slightly different from what I'm used to hearing) by listening to them when they are moving.

This year I actually tried to tell which train was going up the lift by listening for any subtle differences in their anti-rollback noise, but I have yet to get to that point as the train I guessed would not match the train actually on the lift. If the trains have ANY differences whatsoever in how their anti-rollbacks sound on their 56-second ascent, one must have a highly sensitive, highly trained ear to even remotely notice them.