So obviously a coaster like Big Thunder Mountain can’t run multiple trains simultaneously without block brakes. There’s just a few questions I have about them, and I will use the American versions of the ride as examples given that I am most familiar with how they work. So in case you don’t know, there are several block brakes throughout the coaster. Not just the lift hills, station, and final brakes, but there are actual block brakes scattered within - three to be exact. There is one right before the second and third lift hills, and one right before the drop through the dinosaur bones. The thing is, they are all on slightly uphill sections. That means if a train were to stop on one of these block brakes, the whole ride would have to shut down to allow a crew to winch the train to the next method of propulsion because these brakes are not accompanied with a train propulsion system (drive tires or in this case LIMs). If a train were released from one of these blocks, it would instead fall backwards and valley. So why were block sections on Big Thunder Mountain implemented this way knowing that all this would happen if a train were to stop on one of these? Why couldn’t they be integrated in a way that would allow for more smoother operations (like placing them on flat or downhill sections). Wouldn’t be more clever to have the first two aforementioned block brakes right before the second and third lift hills on the straightaways where the extra section of chain would be? Which brings me to my next question - why exactly is there an extended section of chain right before each lift on this coaster? Maybe it acts to slow the train down or something? There’s just so many questions I have about this ride, let me know if you have answers.
