Bush Beast Behind the Scenes

From the queue the Bush Beast looked like a simple wooden coaster. Running it took a computer, a morning inspection by three trades and a few tricks that only the maintenance crew knew. The notes on this page come from the people who operated and maintained the ride.

Design and control

The Bush Beast was built in 1985 as a double out and back figure 8, a direct clone of the Wild Beast built at Canada’s Wonderland in 1981. It used fin type braking pioneered by Taft, with the fin brakes worked by electrically controlled pneumatics. The ride was computerised. A Westinghouse PC700 programmable logic controller (PLC) was the heart of the ride and controlled everything: the brakes, the lap bars, the lift motor, and the lights and buttons on the operator’s panel, which were wired to the PLC’s inputs along with every sensor on the track. If any fault appeared, the PLC shut the ride down.

Keeping the two trains apart

Each car carried a sensor bar underneath. On one train the bars sat on the left-hand side and on the other train on the right, so the control system could tell which train was running, and both trains also carried a common bar. If a train missed a sensor anywhere around the track the system called a safety stop, so that the two trains could never get close to each other. The ride was stopped, the trains were then sent out one at a time, and someone checked the PLC inputs for the sensor that had failed. A three character diagnostic display was fitted to speed this up: a reading of 103 meant train 1, sensor 3. The light sensor layout page shows where the sensors were.

The morning inspection

Inspection of the Bush Beast began at about 6:15am and usually ran right up to Goldrush‘s 11am opening. It needed at least three maintenance staff: a mechanic to inspect the lift chain, the lift motor and the braking system; a carpenter to walk the maintenance track, inspecting the track and the structure; and an electrician to check the electrical system and the PLC. The check sheet they worked from is on the Daily Ride Check page.

Sandbags and ballast

Throughout the park’s life the maintenance crew kept a supply of sandbags for load testing the big rides: the Bush Beast, the Beastie, Space Probe and Skyhawk.

They had a second job too. After a rebuild the trains ran slowly, because the bearings were tight and packed with cold grease, and a coaster that is too slow can stall in the bottom of a dip. Loading the carriages with sandbags gave the trains the extra weight they needed to make it around the circuit. Just as often the ballast was a train load of keen maintenance staff, who would ride the first laps after a rebuild and “bobsled” the train through its slow spots by throwing their weight forward. Between jobs the bags were stored near the spare train shed siding, piled against an upright, which is how they came to be mistaken for supports.

Putting a train away

A small brake on the transfer track between the station and the lift hill was used whenever a train was put away or brought out of storage, and a section of track slid across to open the way into the “garage”. The procedure was to stop the train in the brakes, slide the track across, then release the brakes slowly and push the train gently into the garage, where it rested against small stoppers at the end. One day an operator held the brakes open instead and let the train roll in with far more speed than it should have. It hit the stoppers so hard that the front two carriages lifted, went over the end of the garage and were left hanging just above the ground.

What the operator said

The station announcements, as a Bush Beast operator remembered them:

Welcome to the Bush Beast.

Please place all lose articles to the far side of the ride on the other side of the yellow line please ensure that all lose articles are secured as Wonderland Sydney does not take any responsibility for items lost, stolen or damage.

Here we go everyone enjoy your ride please keep your arms and legs inside the train at all times and please remain seated.

Welcome back please remain seated until the ride has come to a complete stop, once the ride has stopped I will release your lap bars, remember to collect all of your belongings and have a great day here at Wonderland Sydney.