Train Crash?

[sdcfan88]

I'm not one to tout conspiracies but I can't help but think this is sabotage and not gross incompetence. I never believed the fire was an accident either TBH

[DianaGail]

It’s barely been 80 for the last 3 weeks. Extreme heat didn’t cause this.

[legoerosion]

It’s barely been 80 for the last 3 weeks. Extreme heat didn’t cause this.

Track warp can happen at 80 degrees.

[Lampie]

I'm not one to tout conspiracies but I can't help but think this is sabotage and not gross incompetence. I never believed the fire was an accident either TBH

So disgruntled employees, an insurance scam, a competitor, a PR play to get people to not be disappointed that they have to shutdown the railway??? Who benefits from your alleged conspiracy and who benefits?

The simplest explanation is usually the most likely and it sure seems the the fire and this are legit accidents, possibly enabled by weak maintenance/management practices.

[Fergy328]

I'm not one to tout conspiracies but I can't help but think this is sabotage and not gross incompetence. I never believed the fire was an accident either TBH

Conspiracy wise it's probably less so sabotage and more so Herschend trying to cut costs where they can and doing less maintenance on rides. Which I hope like crazy isn't true because WOW what a can of worms that can be.

[sdcfan88]

Considering the proximity of these events within the past two years when stacked against their 60 years of operation and the park avoiding transparency with reports and deleting social media posts as mentioned a few posts back, if true, it does not look good on the park either way. Not to mention the employee getting killed on TNT. The latter was definitely gross incompetence and lack of communication between operators and maintenance staff. Regardless if its a guest or employee, one fatality is one too many and could have been prevented.
 
Until recently this park has enjoyed a stellar safety and maintenance record, but it could also be a cause for complacency and all these incidents happening are now exposing it.

[palallin]

Look, folks, such accidents happen on real RRs fairly often.  The cause is that track takes a beating, and it is simply not possible to spot every potential weak point until it breaks.

It might be possible that a sun kink was involved, but the simple fact is that no amount of maintenance can prevent every failure of the track.  Deal with it.  FACT.  There is no conspiracy, no negligence, no scam, no PR, no sabotage:  a weak point just failed.  $#!t happens. Get over it, and go ride the train.  Or don't:  more room for me and mine.

[Lampie]

Look, folks, such accidents happen on real RRs fairly often.  The cause is that track takes a beating, and it is simply not possible to spot every potential weak point until it breaks.

It might be possible that a sun kink was involved, but the simple fact is that no amount of maintenance can prevent every failure of the track.  Deal with it.  FACT.  There is no conspiracy, no negligence, no scam, no PR, no sabotage:  a weak point just failed.  $#!t happens. Get over it, and go ride the train.  Or don't:  more room for me and mine.

Most of my comment was aimed at trying to understand the reasoning behind it being “sabatoge” as SDCfan88 said. I was not saying I believe it’s those things.

It’s okay to love a park and question why they have had several safety incidents the last couple of years. If you’re in a role that focuses on safety, “$#!t happens” is not an acceptable response to an incident. You dig in and find out exactly what went wrong and change your systems to address it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. When it come to the public, and reassuring them that you have addressed the problem that caused the incident being fully transparent is very helpful. Their comments notation last year and at the beginning of this year about what happened with the train was not fully transparent, that has left some lingering questions in the minds of many of the public if they did enough to address the cause of the problem.  I don’t want to get bogged down on this, I’ll let you tell me why I am wrong and I’ll move on.


What I do want to talk about is that they were very specific about the car coming off by 2 inches. I’m curious how they are being so specific. I’m assuming it’s related to a safety device that kicked in at that tolerance, but I’d love to know more about what exactly it is and how it functions. From what they’ve said it seems like somehow it detects that the car is 2” off the rail and then triggers the coupler to release and that possibly triggers the brake system.

[orangesandpeaches]

Consider, social media and instant communication are fairly recent inventions compared to the history of theme parks.
Agent K's remarks trying to recruit Agent J sitting on the park bench in Men in Black come to mind when the flag of transparency is raised and illuminated 24/7 365.

[SDCisHome]

From the pictures I saw...it looked like the incident yesterday happened with the "older" cars. The accident in October was with the "newer" cars, but engine 504 was pulling both trains when these rare occurrences happened. Not sure if there's any correlation there, just an observation.

In my opinion, the incident yesterday, even though a car "derailed" is no different than something happening with a roller coaster that has a mechanical issue and stops at the top of a lift hill and people have to evacuate. A ride had an issue which enacted safety systems to prevent disaster. Now, there is a huge difference in a roller coaster derailing and a train, but my point is that the safety systems that had been implemented worked and no one was hurt. Yes, it says one person was, but if you decline first aid, you're not really hurt. Although it is scary and when you hear "derailment" you fear the worst, whether that's an Amtrak train or the FSDL, but IMO SDC's new safety systems, that were recommended by the state of Missouri, worked and did their job. It shouldn't prevent you from ever riding it again, if that's how you fell, but to each their own. 

I would raise the question as to when the park just replaces the track of the entire layout. I know that takes time, money, etc...but maybe that's the next conclusion...idk, I'm not an expert, just a loving fan of the FSDL that wants to see it run another 60 years without injury, fear and bad PR, just like before.

[KevinLong]

AGE is a cruel mistress --- especially on rides that have been operating for 50 years or more.

This is probably why you are seeing the replacement of fire in the hole. After a while all the maintenance in the world will not allow you continue using something - it just wears out or becomes unusable. Breaks and faults can occur where they never have before and with things that should never be a problem.

Maybe it's ground settling, erosion, decayed or loose rails. A lack of track ballast in some places. maybe its just time for a full re track and rebuilding of the railroad bed. I have absolutely no idea when that was last done, but maybe its time to do it. 50+ years of hot summers and freezing winters takes it's toll on everything even railroad tracks. A non moving part that should never really be the problem at these speeds and weights.

my two cents..
Kevin

[mg]

They have been given authorization to reopen the train.
Sounds like they won’t be using that set of cars though.

*Edit to add that other news stories that came out after this stated that it was a single defect with one part and that part was replaced.

https://www.ky3.com/2023/05/27/missouri-division-fire-safety-investigating-latest-silver-dollar-city-train-derailment-train-can-reopen/

[pintrader]

Train was up and running yesterday, so I guess the problem was easily solved 

[Trevlyn]

The cause was a rare manufacturing flaw in a wheel. All similar equipment has been removed from service, so guessing the old cars won't run for a while this year.
I believe SDC purchases their wheels, and does not make them themselves.

[Trevlyn]

Something real quick i'll add to that, my source was Branson Tri-Lakes News.