Attraction Source Forum

What if an Oblivion shuttle stalled between the drop and it's turn? I mean, it's practically impossible, but how much of a nightmare would it be to evacuate 16 people from 100ft down a tunnel?

Discuss. =P~

I think your comment about it being practically impossible needs to be over emphasised. Not that it would happen, if it could there has to be some form of access for track maintenance within the tunnel, so I wouldn't think it would be that difficult to evac from down there.

It has got stuck before, luckily no one was on the shuttle at the time

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But, if it's gravity that takes over after the holding brake, how does it get stuck?

Or is it one of those things I'd probably be better off not knowing?

Sometimes rides just dont quite work the way they should, lets put it that way.

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Yep there are stairs that go down there, If it did get stuck down there the only way they could retrieve the gondola would be to winch it out (as you couldn't remove the wheel assemblies and take the gondola off the track as there is nowhere for it go go other than back up the hole)

Big dave, I don't believe you, any chance you could elaborate on this stalling occasion?

Erm well I dont want to, but Im certain a few people will back me up. The tunnel often fills with water and they have an alarm system that detects if the water level is too high. One day, however, said alarm system failed to go off and when the train entered it caused the train to stall. Im not 100% certain of the facts as I wasn't there, but explains why there always was one car, the same car, that never got used as the wheel assembly got damaged.

Edit: As far as Im aware they have changed the alarm system and have never since had any problem.

If there was anything on the track, water or some dropped object or whatever, then it could stall, but there are steps to get down there to evacuate people, it would be required in case something like that happened, plus they need them to just maintain the tunnel and retrieve anything that got stuck down there, like the infamous wig last season.

Cheers dave, who knew we had the worlds first water splash too boot

I am interested to learn more of this occasion, although i highly doubt there would be any pictures of the retrival.

You would think they would use a similar method to this to get the gondola out.
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Except from the top of the turn pulling the gondola up rather than down

They just have a large winch fastened to the track which pulls it up and over the corner.

I think it wouldn't be difficult at all.

Unlike where most coasters stall, the Oblivion track in the tunnel is just above the tunnel floor, allowing easy access.

Staff who work on the ride are not trained to evac from the tunnel. We are only trained in evac'ing from the lift, drop brake, service/waiting brakes, transfer and station (obviously). They do not/have not even mentioned any possibility of a shuttle ever getting stuck down there either, during training or in the ride manual. This will be because basically - the chances of it ever happening are very slim.

Even if the shuttle were to hit something within the tunnel, there is that much speed and momentum behind the shuttles by the time they reach the bottom of the tunnel they would probably still make it out of the other side and up toward the brakes.

In response to the original post, I was just thinking about this the other day and was thinking I should post here about it! I was thinking if a poncho or something blow onto the track and got wrapped round a wheel and slowed it down enough to get stuck.

It'd be amazing to experience that!

[quote=""Tom G""]In response to the original post, I was just thinking about this the other day and was thinking I should post here about it! I was thinking if a poncho or something blow onto the track and got wrapped round a wheel and slowed it down enough to get stuck.

It'd be amazing to experience that![/quote]

Mumbo Jumbo much? :P

Jumbo Crumbo stalled because it only just has enough momentum to crawl over that stretch of track anyway.
Oblivion is a) much faster, and b) much, much heavier. An Oblivion shuttle would tear through a poncho like damp toilet paper! I doubt there would be any significant affect of the speed.

I call bullshit on the Oblivion stalling story. Sounds like an enthusiast rumor started as a joke and just gained momentum. No facts or anything to back it up.

As for one train and always the same train not being in use, surely this is because the system struggles to handle the last train (hence all of the break downs in the early years) and this is always the last train left in the shed when they get removed or is out of service due to needing maintenance?

As for stalling. I see it pretty much impossible for Oblivion to stall unless a fault occurs. The height it drops from and the weight of the train, there is no way it wouldn't make it around the turn. There must be a good 70ft, if not more, difference in heights. It's hardly like the train crawls around the turn.

I highly doubt Alton Towers would have built the tunnel without a drainage system. I find it very hard to believe that the height of water could raise above the level of the tracks enough to stop a train traveling through. Would have to be atleast a 4ft deep puddle which would take one hell of a storm to create or a blocked drainage system for a good few weeks.

I don't believe it ever has.

However, the fact is it remains possible and there will be contingency plans in the unlikely event that it does.

And yes I was thinking Mumbo Jumbo and nearly just put "as per Mumbo Jumbo" but then I knew some nit picker would say that that got stuck upside down... :mrgreen:

Hmm, I kinda trust Big Dave on this, but to pick up on one point in particular:

[quote=""bushboy2""]I highly doubt Alton Towers would have built the tunnel without a drainage system. I find it very hard to believe that the height of water could raise above the level of the tracks enough to stop a train traveling through. Would have to be atleast a 4ft deep puddle which would take one hell of a storm to create or a blocked drainage system for a good few weeks.[/quote]
Think you've missed the point here. Bearing in mind how blinkin' deep the tunnel is, I would imagine that at the bottom it's below the storm drains. Of course, water doesn't flow upwards, so I'd imagine* there'd be some sort of sump at the bottom for water to flow into, and a pump which would trigger once there's a certain depth of water.

All well and good, but given that this is an active rather than passive system, it'd have a greater chance of going wrong. Without a working pump, water level would rise and would have no where to go, so I can certainly see how it's possible for the tunnel to flood. Hence the water level sensor to warn if the level is too high.

* - this bit's speculative, but I'm fairly certain that the tunnel is going to be deeper than storm drains. Ergo, water would need to be removed somehow, so pump makes sense...

To demonstrate the scale of the problem of draining the hole, here's an Oblivion construction pic from TT:



I believe the pipes on the right of that pic are for draining the hole. It's certainly plausible that enough water could collect to at leach reach the upstop wheels if the drainage systems failed.

Of course the problem is the rain getting in from the entrance and exit of the hole and being unable to escape through the watertight concrete, not water seeping into the hole from the walls as one may expect. (only an extreme period of rainy weather would even begin to fill the hole (we are talking about a large stretch of the gradually curving floor becoming submerged to the point of failiure).