Turn of the Century - Demon make-over

[Santa Cruisin]

Does anyone know why the Turn of the Century was made over into the Demon?

I remember in the local news media (San Jose) how the Turn of the Century had breakdowns and stranded riders for hours. The front wheels would come loose and stop. This happened twice during it's short span of existence. Shortly thereafter, the two hills were replaced with two loops and re-themed the Demon.

I always thought it was to correct a design flaw. Does anyone have any idea what the reason for the re-design was?

[JW65]

I don't know for a fact, but I'll take a stab at what I think may have been the reason. With the success of the Tidal Wave and with more and more parks adding more exciting roller coaster rides, the fate of the Turn of the Century was inevitable. It would have been more expensive to build an entirely new roller coaster and still maintain the Turn of the Century. I am sure a whole marketing scheme took place with focus testing to find out from the riders what they wanted. Tidal Wave was tagged "a thrill ride" at the time and I am sure MGA wanted the same for the Demon.

When Demon first premiered it was a very popular ride, that I do remember. Probably much more popular than the Turn of the Century ever was, thus increasing attendance for the park, thus increasing $$$....You know the rest.

[coasterfan71555]

Greetings to all! I believe that one of the reasons was to have one of the first 4-inversion roller coasters. Cedar Point had (and still has) the Corkscrew, which has one vertical loop and a double corkscrew. I think Marriott wanted to outdo Cedar Point by developing a coaster with TWO vertical loops and a double corkscrew. Add to that the new theming with the tunnel, flashing lights, and (back in 1980) blood-red waterfall, they did have a winner! It's great to be here and share wonderful memories of the early years at Marriott's Great America!

[segerken]

The front wheels would come loose and stop. This happened twice during it's short span of existence. Shortly thereafter, the two hills were replaced with two loops and re-themed the Demon.

I always thought it was to correct a design flaw.

The reason for the wheels falling off had nothing to do with the TOC being rebuilt and rethemed as the Demon. In fact, the part of the track that was causing the axles to break is still there today. I was a sweeper in the area at the time and was right next to the TOC when the axle in the second train set broke. On breaks I also got to ride it while they were verifying what was causing the breaks and while Arrow was verifying that they had fixed the problem.

The axle were breaking because of the cork screw. The force of the train going through the corkscrew was causing the welds of the ribs from the center tube to the actual rails to break. These broken welds caused the rails to flex in a undesigned manner which put stress on the axils. Eventually the axils would break and the train would slide to a stop as it was leaving the corkscrews. To fix the problem, Arrow doubled the number of ribs and this fixed the problem.

While testing the syste, Arrow had placed a generator in one of the cars so that they could measure the stress on the axils. One thing I learned is that you don't want to ride in the seats right behind the generator. As the train would go over the cammel backs, gasoline would come out of the carbartor and spray me.

[JW65]

Segerken,

If not for the wheels, do you know the reason why the Turn of the Century changed over to the Demon?

[Santa Cruisin]

Segerken,

Thanks for the clarification. It does makes sense. I do remember them mentioning it happened coming out of the corkscrew element. I always assumed it was the hills because they were the most intense part of the Turn of the Century.

[steven]

The wheel / axle problem seemed to happen more in Santa Clara. I remember visiting the Gurnee park and finding the TURN OF THE CENTURY closed because of the axle failures on the Santa Clara ride.

As far as the change from TURN OF THE CENTURY to the DEMON, I'm pretty sure that it was for marketing reasons. They could promote a "new" roller coaster without the expense of actually building an entirely new roller coaster.

While the DEMON has had plenty of fans, especially among those who rode it when all of the theme elements were in effect, I still would MUCH prefer to have the TURN OF THE CENTURY back.

Steven

[ewilson]

I preferred the Turn of the Century also. You can do loops anywhere, but those negitive G camelbacks were the best.

[segerken]

Segerken,

Thanks for the clarification. It does makes sense. I do remember them mentioning it happened coming out of the corkscrew element. I always assumed it was the hills because they were the most intense part of the Turn of the Century.

I don't know why. My guess would what Steven said. It was changed for marketing reasons.

[redfishpaw]

Here is an interesting photo. (no, I did not put the text on it)
http://www.pbase.com/redfishpaw/image/47147501

[Tanya]

Thanks for the photo, I can't get over all the dirt!

[Demondude102110]

I don't know why they did it but I am sure glad they did

[redfishpaw]

While testing the syste, Arrow had placed a generator in one of the cars so that they could measure the stress on the axils. One thing I learned is that you don't want to ride in the seats right behind the generator. As the train would go over the cammel backs, gasoline would come out of the carbartor and spray me.

I thought that sandbags primarily were used for testing rides. One year, (in the spring of 85) I had to help carry sandbags to test ''Big Top'' in county fair. I think that they were 50 pounds each, maybe 70. I believe that we put at least three bags in each car and then we ran the ride. Also, I recall seeing sandbags in Skywhirl for testing.

[segerken]

The problem they were trying to fix was the axels snapping because of fatigue. They were not breaking each time the train went around the track. In fact, it took several months for the first axel to break. By measuring the stress on the axel as the train went around the track, they could determine if there were any other places on the track that was causing signicant stress on the axels.

[Shockwavegirl]

The reason for the wheels falling off had nothing to do with the TOC being rebuilt and rethemed as the Demon. In fact, the part of the track that was causing the axles to break is still there today. I was a sweeper in the area at the time and was right next to the TOC when the axle in the second train set broke. On breaks I also got to ride it while they were verifying what was causing the breaks and while Arrow was verifying that they had fixed the problem.

The axle were breaking because of the cork screw. The force of the train going through the corkscrew was causing the welds of the ribs from the center tube to the actual rails to break. These broken welds caused the rails to flex in a undesigned manner which put stress on the axils. Eventually the axils would break and the train would slide to a stop as it was leaving the corkscrews. To fix the problem, Arrow doubled the number of ribs and this fixed the problem.

While testing the syste, Arrow had placed a generator in one of the cars so that they could measure the stress on the axils. One thing I learned is that you don't want to ride in the seats right behind the generator. As the train would go over the cammel backs, gasoline would come out of the carbartor and spray me.

That didn't entirely fix the problem.....the axels still required much maitenance even in my employment days....in fact the year after I stopped working there in '98, the first day the park opened that year, the axel snapped thus trapping the train in the middle of the second loop. Major news that year. In fact I had fun torturing my physics teacher about it, as it was 2 weeks before physics day, and she had just finished teaching us that it was againts the laws of physics for a train to get stuck upsidedown and couldn't happen!