Welcome to another edition of "Rumors of the Road" on your source for Cedar Point information, The Point Online presented by me, Sgt. RoadKill. In the past two weeks there has not been much in the rumors area of information pop up. I looked through all of the information that I have come upon and I still didn’t have anything that would bring any interest to you, the readers. The article changed last Sunday afternoon after I was informed of the tire incident on Top Thrill Dragster. I’ll try to include as much information as I know at the present time to help you solve this mystery.

Some of you might not have known this. Sometime on last Saturday the purple train of Top Thrill Dragster experienced some slight complications. It had nothing to do that would cause the ride to be considered unsafe, it was just a minor implication with a part of the "decorations" that were added to the trains to make the theme more realistic. The back decorative "Goodyear" tires on the purple train were spinning. I do not know where they were spinning whether it was coming back from the top hat or in the station, but it was not planned. Maintenance workers removed the "Goodyear" tires off of the purple train initially. Then they removed the "Goodyear" tires off of the rest of the operating trains. They only removed the tires from the rest of the trains for safety precautions.

I do not know entirely what happened because I was not present but I have found somebody that knows more about the situation on a personal basis. I’ve talked with many people and had an interview lined up to be included with this article. I held the release of this article for a week hoping that the interview would pull through but I have not had a response with the questions I have asked so I’ll have to try to use all the information that I have collected from vast resources. If the interview does pull through I’ll include it in the next edition of "Rumors of the Road" for you to read.

I have heard from a couple of sources that the 6^th train is indeed on its way. The last time I have heard news on the train that it was waiting to be put on the transfer track. I have not received any other information. I’ve not heard the specifics regarding why the train was not present on opening day but I’ve heard various rumors from the train having severe difficulties and having to be repaired by Intamin to it not being in yet. It could have even been left in storage until it was even really needed but you would have thought that they would have had all trains present for opening day when the wait hit a screaming six hours.

According to reports during the same time frame that the "Goodyear" tires came off they also had all the cars on all of the running trains. Could they have had to take off the tires to add the final car into the train? Most likely not, but there is always that slight chance that it could have been but personally I don’t believe it. With all the cars back on the trains and all six trains about ready to run the wait times should decrease slightly noticeably.

As with any new coaster you will have problems and you have to come to expect that. The downtime might seem strange to some guests but as avid coaster fans we have to expect it from a new ride. I could argue for hours with somebody that says Cedar Point doesn’t get prototype rides when they actually do. I consider a ride a prototype when there is anything new that has not been used on any coaster before. Computers can tell you a lot about things but they do not give you a definite answer on every issue and occurrence. Whenever you reach out with something new that is the basis for rides in the future it is a prototype. Maybe someday I’ll do an article on the future of prototype rides.

Well it seems that it’s that time again to end another edition of "Rumors of the Road". I want to thank you for all of your support and e-mails that you have sent me with questions and comments. I highly appreciate them and they make typing these articles up even more of a pleasure. So feel free to e-mail with all your comments and suggestions. If you have any rumors you’d like to share with me feel free. If you’d like to have something discussed in my articles let me know and if it’s reasonable I’ll try my hardest to get it in. I’m sorry for not being able to get that interview in here but hopefully I’ll have better luck next time. Thanks again for coming and may God bless every one of you.

You can e-mail Sgt. RoadKill at marshall_dude@thepointol.com or if you want leave him a private message on the TPOL Forums.