Lift Blog
Well-Known Member
Yep. The red part looks to be a switch like in a railyard.
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News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -
- Thread starter danlb_2000
- Start date
Lift Blog
Well-Known Member
Remember this line from Disney? "Finally, cabins will slow down at the Disney Skyliner turn-station along Buena Vista Drive, where guests can see the mechanical and aerial components that make up the Disney Skyliner"
I wonder what that means for this station. See through windows?
I wonder what that means for this station. See through windows?
That's just Disney's spin on not theming the station.
I drove by today and noticed those poles are actually quite a distance from the track -- I'd guess about 10 feet -- which is not evident in the photo due to the camera angle.
nace888
Well-Known Member
This isn't to trump anyone's statements, but I'd thought about something... It was stated that the stations were being installed with a second loading zone, so are we to venture a guess that the second loading area would be used for guests with ECVs?? IF the second loading zone isn't designed with drive tires, then would we guess that cast will hold the car steady, and push it into rotation or into a set of drive tires into the lineup and let the computer do the rest?? I only speak on this in speculation as when I'd worked in monorails, I'd encountered guests with ECVs, and some don't really know how to drive them around a stationary cabin, let alone a moving one...
No one has said for sure yet, but, I think there would be two scenarios:
1. The second wheel pulls off one gondola to be stationary for use with ECVs. When loaded, it goes into rotation and a new gondola is pulled into the second wheel and unloaded and sits waiting for the next ECV.
2. The second wheel pulls off every other gondola. Now, both wheels have twice the normal loading time which is more than enough for an ECV.
Both loading areas have drive tires.
BuzzLIghtYear2010
Member
That gondola shape reminds me a lot of the 8 person Poma gondola at Killington, VT.
We have two. This the K1 to Killington Peak. The other has the same capacity per car, and goes to Skye Peak.
@Lift Blog : Question on backup power. You mentioned that there would be a backup generator at the CBR hub to power the system if the main power goes out. What about the other stations? Doesn't there need to be power to drive the tires? You also mentioned there could be a direct drive diesel engine as a backup, again what happens with the other stations?
nace888
Well-Known Member
Okay, are those tires (the vertical ones) going to go around the whole loop?? Will a CM have to control power up and power down to make cabins stationary (if that's what will happen)?
Lensman
Well-Known Member
The best visualization we had was from a video that @Lift Blog posted a while back in the thread. In this case, everything was automated, but you can imagine a semi-automated system. We don't know whether the cabins would come to a complete stop as in the video or just travel the second loop at a snails pace.
Lensman
Well-Known Member
Good question. I always imagined that all the tires were powered by gearing off of the bullwheel, but obviously @Lift Blog is the one to answer definitively. (This is because I imagined that it would be good business for Doppelmayr to develop a detachable lift system that didn't require electrical service at the top of the mountains at the "other" end of the lift. Plus it seems a safer design to have everything mechanically synchronized with one "off" switch.)
The stations would obviously need electrical service for lighting and secondary control systems in the outstations or midstations, but I do wonder about this as you don't want to create multiple points of failure that would cause the whole system to be halted - that is, for the system to be completely inoperable if any one of the stations lost power.
I speculated earlier in the thread about whether Disney was going to choose the option where they had a secondary/emergency drive system in the outstation, enabling them to avoid rope evacuations despite a complete power failure at the main drive station at CBR.
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GoofGoof
Premium Member
Good findHere's a bit of good news. I spotted a whole heard of ladders over at AK on the walkway to Conservation Station. Apparently its ladder mating season. You know what that means, shortly we will have more projects being worked on with all those little step ladders. Pic is as of Sat 9-15 12:02pm
View attachment 314292
With all those ladders we could be looking at a possible 5th gate
There appears to be quite a bit of electrical even in the Boardwalk turn station. You can see all the conduits in this picture.
Lift Blog
Well-Known Member
This makes sense as I believe the second end of the horizontal rails will be attached to the terminal.
Station tires generally aren't powered; they run off of the cable via belts and gears. The double turnarounds may be an exception. There are lots of ways backup power can be arranged. The trend on bigger lifts is to have generators at the drive station which can run the lift with its normal electric motors. At all other stations, the low voltage controls can be powered with batteries as long as they stay charged. On some lifts, alternators run off the cable and recharge these batteries so no outside power is needed indefinitely. In this scenario, the lights aren't on, the heat isn't on, but the lift can run.
Many ski lifts have one or more diesel or gasoline engines that can be coupled directly to the gearbox, bypassing the electric motor and drive entirely. I doubt Disney goes this route when they can afford as many generators and backup electric drives as they want. Having to decouple the motor and couple the engine takes time when a lift goes down. Turning on a generator is quick.
The ski resort where I work lost power for 5 days in February 2017 and we learned a lot about these backup systems. They work great for getting people off lifts but we struggled to keep them going for days with no heat. We ended up completely closing for a week. I wrote a blog post about it:
https://liftblog.com/2017/02/11/chronicles-from-a-crazy-week-in-jackson-hole/
My guess is still that cabins come onto the second turnarounds at a set interval and stop at a designated spot. All automated via tires and chain conveyors.
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I seem to recall such a discussion about 200 pages or so back...
Lift Blog
Well-Known Member
That summarizes this entire thread!