Runaway Mine Train Storage/Staging Area?

[thecloak]

Well now that IS funny cause I lost a Zippo just like that one on the Cliffhanger!

[JStroop]

I know you're lying because I didn't describe the zippo I found :-p

[thecloak]

Merv told me to do it!! He's thinking about taking up smoking and he wanted me to find him a good lighter!

[hjennings]

That's right! The train did used to go behind the waterfall. I miss that. Is the waterfall still there? I haven't noticed...

Originally Posted by Krista 96-02

Speaking of Mine Train modifications (and not enough time to go back and read if this was already brought up..though I think it wasn't..) ...

Was anyone here aware the reason behind the sorta lull after Lift 2? The straight track and slow curve around the waterfall? Has Clint ever covered that? I just found out in the last few weeks that used to be a pretty violent section of track that only lasted a few months after opening..apparently some dips and a high speed turn there somewhere. And that waterfall used to be enclosed and the train traveled through it, too.

[buck1108]

Originally Posted by hjennings

That's right! The train did used to go behind the waterfall. I miss that. Is the waterfall still there? I haven't noticed...

No, unfortunately, it's gone. I wonder what year it was removed?
I think it was added..maybe late 60s? A few yrs after the Mine Train was built.

[Randy Tarlton]

After lift 2, the Runaway Mine Train course was slow and gentle and the trains did pass through a small mountain with a divided waterfall, allowing guest to 'see the back side of water' (anyone know where that quip originated from? 10 pts bonus if you do!).

After coming out of the mountain, the tracks continued to curve to the left, then there was a steeper dip into a hard right turn, then a small bump, followed by another hard right turn, then a left going through the Rock Crusher lift 2 structure, and then the high speed right turn under the Six Flags Railroad tracks and into lift 3 up to the Saloon and underwater tunnel.

New riders were always surprised by the increased speed and unexpected roughness of those hard turns. If you didn't brace yourself, your ribs told a sad tale soreness and bruises the next day.

I would love to see the mountain and waterfall return. It added a moment of coolness and diverted rider's attention from Interstate 30. I believe they took out the hard turns to avoid 'injury' lawsuits(gosh are we wimps today or what?).

[Twisted]

Originally Posted by Randy Tarlton

allowing guest to 'see the back side of water' (anyone know where that quip originated from? 10 pts bonus if you do!).

Any Jungle Cruise fan will know this one...whether DL or WDW.

[buck1108]

Originally Posted by Twistedmister

Any Jungle Cruise fan will know this one...whether DL or WDW.

LOL good catch!

[buck1108]

Originally Posted by Randy Tarlton

After lift 2, the Runaway Mine Train course was slow and gentle and the trains did pass through a small mountain with a divided waterfall, allowing guest to 'see the back side of water' (anyone know where that quip originated from? 10 pts bonus if you do!).

After coming out of the mountain, the tracks continued to curve to the left, then there was a steeper dip into a hard right turn, then a small bump, followed by another hard right turn, then a left going through the Rock Crusher lift 2 structure, and then the high speed right turn under the Six Flags Railroad tracks and into lift 3 up to the Saloon and underwater tunnel.

New riders were always surprised by the increased speed and unexpected roughness of those hard turns. If you didn't brace yourself, your ribs told a sad tale soreness and bruises the next day.

I would love to see the mountain and waterfall return. It added a moment of coolness and diverted rider's attention from Interstate 30. I believe they took out the hard turns to avoid 'injury' lawsuits(gosh are we wimps today or what?).

Thanks for the great description! I sure wish I'd gotten to ride it when it had the first configuration (at the risk of broken ribs and lawsuits..lol ).

I remember that the waterfall did just that..the feeling I got the first time I rode it was that we were going somewhere 'mysterious' as we entered the mountain/cave, and the waterfall really felt like we had stepped back into another world.

Do you remember if the track that went under the rock crusher, before going under the SFRR tracks, was altered in its approach when the second configuration was made? What I mean is, there is that opening under the rock crusher that looks like a barn facade, jutting out at an angle from the lift hill, to line up with the track (so the train enters it perpendicularly to its facade). Was that always there at today's angle, or was it changed?
In the original alignment, the hard right after the speed bump(s) and then the left may have taken it back to today's alignment at the underpass of the rock crusher, but it kind of seems like it would be a pinch to get there from that angle...?


In studying this first season (first alignment) photo (below), it does look like the underpass was much straighter originally. Hmmm..I wonder if there was another 'barn' facade with a 'straight face' (so to speak) added before the track change?

[Parktimes]

runawaymintrain#2.jpg
Early Waterfall shot
Click for larger view