Shockwave did have four trains when it opened, but i think I read somewhere that they never used all four because it always resulted in stacking one train on the brake run, which was less efficient.
2 of the trains were yellow, 1 was red and 1 was blue. I just checked some home video I shot back in '89 when Shockwave opened and the blue train and one yellow train were on the transfer track and the red train and the other yellow train were running that day -- so I am certain the ride originally had four trains available.
Are you sure it was 2 yellow trains? This picture of the trains has a red train with a yellow stripe, and in the later years I always remember riding Shockwave on a red train with a blue stripe.
It could have been repainted during a refurb though.
BP/19 wrote:Are you sure it was 2 yellow trains? This picture of the trains has a red train with a yellow stripe, and in the later years I always remember riding Shockwave on a red train with a blue stripe. It could have been repainted during a refurb though.
My original post was wrong -- but there were definitely two yellow trains.
Just to be 100% sure,I rechecked my video from 1989 and there is clearly one yellow train on the transfer track and the other is running the circuit. Both yellow trains have a blue stripe.
However -- my last post is wrong as the video shows one red, not blue, train on the transfer track and one running the circuit. Both red trains have blue stripes as shown in your second picture.
Your picture of the red train with the yellow stripe has to be for a different coaster. Aside from the stripe being the wrong color, that train has black OTSRs and Shockwave's trains all had orange OTSRs.
In later years, there was definitely a blue train. A friend of mine took a picture of me in it as we were on the brake run into the station. I believe that would have been 1993. What I can't say is whether the blue train replaced one of the red or yellow trains of it was in addition to those trains. I also can't say if there were one or two blue trains.
I doubt Great America would have had 6 trains for the ride purely due to to cost. However, as I understand the history the trains were under a lot of stress so maybe the blue trains were added to the other 4 to allow maintenance to be performed while still allowing the ride run a full capacity.
Does anyone have any more info on this? I am certain in 1989 when the ride opened there were four trains (2 yellow, 2 red), but I'm now curious when the blue trains showed up and if they replaced any of the existing trains.
In the Mid 90's Shockwave got 2 new Trains, the Red and Blue were 100% brand new and the Yellow train was a conglomeration of the original 4 trains. Stripe could have changed then, or just been repainted over the years.
Original trains were indeed 2 Yellows, a Blue and a Red. The original idea was to have separate load and unload stations which would have made sense, but as built with only one station, running 4 at once just didn't make any sense and probably never happened other than maybe testing situations.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
FParker185 wrote:In the Mid 90's Shockwave got 2 new Trains, the Red and Blue were 100% brand new and the Yellow train was a conglomeration of the original 4 trains. Stripe could have changed then, or just been repainted over the years.
That makes sense. However, the stripes were blue when the ride opened in '89 (see below).
Original trains were indeed 2 Yellows, a Blue and a Red.
Nope. The original trains were 2 red and 2 yellow. See the attached partial screen grabs from my video. I am 100% certain I shot this in 1989 when the ride first opened.
In this first picture there is one red train on the lift and one red train (with a blue stripe) on the transfer track. One yellow train is on the transfer track. Therefore, Shockwave had two red trains when the ride opened, not one:
The second shot is of the red train further up the lift. Notice the blue stripe:
The third grab is from the station where one yellow train is in station and the red train (w/blue stripe) can be seen on the transfer track:
So, at least early in the season in 89, it was 2 red and 2 yellow trains -- all with blue stripes. If the previous picture was definitely of the red trains at Arrow's facility, the stripes must have been repainted when the trains arrived at the park.
