question about multiple trains on older coaster designs

[FireDragon761138]

Hey, I was looking at some of the older side friction roller coaster blueprints out there, ones that use the Hop the Gaps set, and some have multiple trains running on the same coaster; without block brakes, which doesn't seem right. I'm trying to do research on how these side-friction coasters actually operated, but information is hard to come by. I watched a video on youtube of America's oldest coaster, which is of this type, and it seems to be manually braked (at the station) and there's no evidence in the video of having multiple cars on the track.

[rbaczynski]

Possible answer may be the length of the station.

If you make a coaster or tracked ride without block brakes, you can have multiple trains running on the track at one time. They will leave at the interval you have set for departures. You can have multiple trains on the track at one time but the length of the trains could only be one car long. Example would be the Studio Tours buses or the River Raft tracked rides. Works on any coasters that uses a powered track.

For gravity coasters that have a chainlift on the track, the chainlift acts as a block section from the station to the top of the chainlift and would support two trains on the track at the same time without having to use block brakes, one on the chainlift block and one from the chainrlifft to the station.

I believe Hop the Gaps acts as a powered tracked ride. Hope this helps.

[FireDragon761138]

Do trains ever crash if the coasters are run in continuous mode?

[rbaczynski]

Trains only crash in continuous mode if one stallls on the track or is wating just outside the station for room to be available for it in the station. The station itself contains a brake when you enter it. As long as your station is long enough to contain your trains with a little room to spare they should not crash before going into the station.

I believe some of the unannounced coaster stalling people see in the game but can't explain are the result of trains crashing at the entrance into the station itself because of the station being too short. These are unannounced breakdowns. That's why I usually make my stations longer and place a friction brake if I can as the last piece of track before my trains enter the station itself. It acts as an insurance policy that the trains don't enter the station too fast.

For example take a powered transport ride with three or four stations on it. If you build three trains for the ride, each tracked sections of the ride between each station is considered a block even in continuous mode. Trains will depart each station when the load criteria is met and the track to the next station is clear. If a train reaches a station where a train is still loading it will stop just outside the station and wait until the loading train is filled and leaves. The wating train will then enter the empty station. The third train which could have been waiting at the previous station until the track is cleared will then leave its station.

You can build a powered track ride with only one station like a raft ride and place enough rafts to extend past the stations entrance. But returning rafts run the risk of bumping into other rafts wating outside the station entrance. If the returning rafts are running fast enough it could cause collisions.

Hope this explains it better. Sorry about being too wordy.