Attraction Source Forum

Kirsty25 wrote:

Heisenberg96 wrote: Anyone have an idea of a rough date it'll open then, because I'm unaware of how severe this is. Will it be open by the time I visit at the end of June? Or is it even more severe?

I'm not sure anyone would be willing to speculate on opening dates at this moment in time.

aress wrote:

aircanman wrote:

A wrote: Here's my theory:
Trims turned on full, stopped the train too quickly causing scraping and hence it couldn't make it round the rest of the track.

Just a theory

That scraping noise the car made didn't sound normal? Perhaps a wheel bearing collapsed bringing it to a complete stop?

Scraping noise? There's a video of this?

hursty wrote: Hi,

It's rumored to have valleyed in the pit at the far end of the site (bat wing / cobra roll)

The suggestion is not of a stall, but of a wheel assembly problem.
This is why mine & Roodles photos showed so many track shots - together with shots of the replacement train.

These photos are re-posts
More can be found in mine and roodles photos from a few pages ago.

Images removed

aircanman wrote: Wheel bearing or one of those smiler style wheel trim/covers came loose and started scraping. The noises on the videos were not supposed to be there I don't think. I'm on my phone at moment so can't link one sorry.

truckaddict wrote: What does this mean now! Will The Smiler never open to the public? Because what would happen if people were on the ride if the stalling etc happens :0

MichaelStott wrote: Where I work there is an ex-manager of Alton Towers, who is now the attraction manager of where I work that is just as enthusiastic to ride The Smiler as I am. He asked someone he knows there about the delays etc, and apparently it is due to a stall which was caused by the wheels. Apparently since the end of testing the ride was deemed safe, however was NOT running at optimum speed. This is suspected to be due to the wheels being too tight on the track, and the weight of the cars being very slightly heavier than expected. The following video at 1:57 almost shows the car stalling, this is indeed where it stalled the other day, it rolled back and had to be removed from the track.



You can also see below that another user caught wind of this. Notice how the car VERY suddenly slows down, almost unnaturally. It's not a gradual slowdown, it's almost an instant stop. This is the issue. From looking at the videos that show the screeching it certainly looks to be the cause.

Since I posted this I also noticed that someone above linked a video that at 40 seconds shows the car going very slow.