It still completely blows my mind at how fast B&M and Clermont got this support fabricated. I’ve actually heard rumors that this could open in a week or two… Part of me wonders if this is too fast. I don’t think anyone was in danger at the time the ride was shut down but there’s part of me that wonders if this stressed the redundancies and they aren’t taking enough time to investigate. Maybe they just want to get it up for the summer and then they’ll close it for fall/winter when the ride is less critical to their attendance to do more investigating, etc.
It’s anyone’s guess…
I think it was a pretty straightforward repair. They inspected every cm of that ride and when I was there I could still see booms and people on the track. I am just starting to learn how to weld and stress fractures are pretty straightforward. I am going to try and make it back for Scarowinds. Hopefully it is running without issue.
I didn’t mean to imply that they didn’t go over it and that it’s not safe… They absolutely have gone over that thing to make it safe and the redundancies are still in place. I’m speaking more from a long term perspective. There is safe rectification and there is truly identifying root causes and stresses over time.
To be even extra clear, the fact that B&M is directly involved gives me a lot of peace of mind that this is being done safely. They aren’t going to let things run in an unsafe state but B&M’s history is also very very methodical and engineering based and that’s what makes me think that the opening of the coaster in a couple weeks may very well not be the end of the investigation and inspecting. I don’t know if/when they close it again but I just think it’s a likely possibility.
I’m still so bummed it was down for my trip but it just means I have to go back!
This was done several days ago, they have already painted it. Hopefully they will start testing this week