Sad news coming out of Stockholm, looks like another classic Schwarzkopf design has derailed.
Article is in Swedish - here’s a Google Translate link
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Looks to be the same thing that happened in Mexico and Canada which, if I’m not mistaken, was the result of overlooking maintenance on the wheel bogies (though we can’t jump to conclusions here). I hope everyone else survives and the families find comfort. This is tragic and shouldn’t happen.
@bobkmertz @will6789 It definitely appears to have thrown a wheel assembly. The question is whether this failure is easily detectable, or is something more fundamental with the Schwarzkopf trains.
I wonder if this can be mitigated with careful checks, or whether parks need to be modifying or replacing the original trains on their Schwarzkopf rides.
This is tragic. Grona Lund strikes me as a park that looks after their rides, so this came as a real shock. Fingers crossed for the survivors.
At this point my gut is saying this may be a cross of neglect and a design that needs to be addressed. I don’t think that it’s a case where we should write off the classic trains but Gerstlauer (who I think holds the design assets but could also be Mauer) needs to review this and figure out a path forward. Many old rides have had similar scenarios that have gone on to be perfectly fine and safe rides (Chance Zippers come to mind).
We’ll have to see how this all plays out. These are incredibly great coasters that I don’t want to see people giving up on.
@bobkmertz Gerstlauer have definitely built trains for Schwarzkopf coasters. I think Zierer had some history there too.
I don’t think Jetline is going anywhere, and most of the other major Schwarzkopfs in Europe already have new trains, or are very well looked after (e.g. the ones on the German fair circuit).
I agree they’re usually good rides, and I’m concerned that some parks may remove their classic Schwarzkopfs, rather than pay to refurbish them, should that become necessary.
Many companies have built replacement trains but there’s only one company that is currently responsible for the Schwarzkopf trains themselves… I’m pretty sure that is Gerstlauer. They are the ones that can issue a service bulletin/recall/etc and provide replacement parts/designs. When Schwarzkopf folded the assets were split among mainly Gerstlauer and Mauer IIRC with a minor portion going to Zierer.
RCDB says Jetline was actually manufactured by Zierer, along with the clone of this coaster (BMRX/Knightmare) and Lisebergbanan. But it’s definitely using Schwarzkopf’s design and the fact that this keeps happening suggests problems with the design. As @MouseAT@opencoaster.net said, Grona Lund doesn’t seem like the type of place to skimp on maintainance.
Hopefully whichever company is currently supporting these old coasters can figure out a solution, the fact that this has happened again is inexcusable.
That’s the first time I’ve actually seen Zierer get the manufacturing credit. The 4 companies were so intertwined though that it’s not at all shocking and there’s no doubt it’s basically the same as all the other Schwarzkopf coasters (excluding layout obviously). I once took a deep dive into the history and my mind exploded. The Wave Swinger ride is where things got really wild. I can’t remember all the intricacies but Zierer was mostly close with Anton’s brother (hence why the swings are Zierer rides) but the cooperation between those 4 companies really blurred the lines of who did what… Kind of reminds me of PTC and how the line between wooden coasters pre-2000 is so blurry.
I honestly miss the collaboration era. We have companies today doing some insane rides but could you imagine if Intamin and Gravity Group worried together on a new pre-fab woodie… Or B&M and S&S?
As for Grona Land, from everything I hear about it it seems the popular opinion agrees with you… The accident in Mexico was written off because that park was known for not doing maintenance so hopefully this causes people to take notice – not that the rides need removed but that there is something with these wheel bogie connection points that needs some serious review.
@bobkmertz @will6789 Zierer definitely built Lisebergbanan, so it wouldn’t surprise me that there are others. I know Lisebergbanan was Anton’s design (and by all accounts, one of his favourite coasters), he just worked with Zierer to build rides once his own company had folded.
Like you, I lose track of who did what in the aftermath, and am never sure who is providing what services these days.
