Code 101

[Zazu]

Love the train stories, o great Zazu! More please!!

Well, okay. How about The Case of the Broken Rail?

Rails break. It's not unusual. But they tend to break in distinctive ways. The most common involves the bolt holes in the end of each rail. You can't live without them as you really do need to bolt them one to another. Unfortunately, those bolt holes are a weak spot, and tend to be the starting point for cracks. Eventually, the cracks grow sideways to the end of the rail and up through the top, leaving a loose triangular chunk.

It takes a sharp eye that knows what it's looking for to see one. It's just about impossible from the cab of a locomotive, which is why there are (or should be) daily inspections by somebody who knows track.

I just happen to know track that well, and spotted such a broken rail just about where the locomotives stop at Toontown. Because we had no radios, the only way I could stop the oncoming train was to throw the switch to the roundhouse, which sets a signal red. I called Frontierland (the previous station), but a train had already left, so I walked down the track to the signal.

Here's where the stupid started. The engineer wanted to evac the train there in the woods and walk the guests to Toontown. He couldn't understand that it was perfectly safe to pull into the station, stopping just short of the break, which would let almost all of the guests get off at the station platform. Turns out he was freaked by the red light, so I offered to go turn it green, but warned him I would be standing on the track at the break, and to please not squish me.

Fortunately, he managed not to. The guests were taken off without incident. Then the challenge became explaining the situation to a manager. It didn't work. Finally, I told them I would be standing in the middle of the track until they arrived and hung up. Amazingly, that worked!

He looked at the track with the broken rail and declared it safe to run on. So, I picked up the broken piece, leaving a six-inch gap in the rail and asked, "How about now?" Okay, that he could understand.

We had to put the piece back in and roll the first set of wheels over it to back the trains off, but managed to do so without a derailment. Took maintenance overnight to replace the broken rail since there was only one man on duty and they wouldn't let me help.

So we went 101 for the day and all but six of us went home, we six taking turns standing at the stations, saying, "We're closed for the day."

All this sounds like a lot of talk and very little excitement, but it had me pretty worried because of the potential for minor disaster if a loco had rolled over because somebody like me hadn't been there to notice the break.

This story isn't a reason to worry about the safety of the line. I believe it was the only time we broke a rail in the eight years I was on the line.

But for months the manager involved kept bugging me by asking if I'd "broken the railroad again".

[CMGUY89]

There have been a couple of times I have suggested to coordinators that we delay opening until a "safety critical" item be fixed. Basically they told me to blow it out my @$$. It seems like none of the work lights work in the finale tunnel from the bio lab to the dock. That is starred as safety critical and must work before we open. I keep putting an "x" in the box but the coordinators just tell me to open and call maint and put a check in the box over my x. I think it kinda defeats the purpose of a safety checklist but that's just my .02.

[felinefan]

I think the worst problem we had on the Calico R.R. at Knott's was the day an HC guest (developmentally disabled) decided he could let himself in through the exit gate while the train was out, but was approaching the station. I had been picking up trash trackside, and couldn't figure out why the train stopped way short of the station. I mean like the bottom end of the bullpen. We had to let people off in the dirt instead of the asphalt, I'm not sure if there were any wheelchairs aboard, but if there was, they had to wait until we were able to pull the train up to its normal stop. See, the exit gate to Calico R.R. is an alternate HC entrance, and this guy kept coming over and riding; instead of waiting for a conductor to open the gate for him, he opened it himself. He wasn't at the level of recognizing danger, but neither was one of my co-workers. But that's another story.

But we never had any problems with the rails; I wonder if the rails Zazu are talking about are made different than the ones at Knott's? From the research I've been able to do, WDW trains were made 1925, Knott's in 1881, but there's any number of factors that could be coming into play; Knott's trains have a speed limit of 7-8 mph, though they're capable of 37 mph.

[Randy B]

I was going to mention the bats in RnR. We were actually 101 for quite awhile while they chased the darn things around.

We had a fun day of 101s at Muppets. A guest came up to the exit and showed the cm there that she had something greasy spilled on her during the show. We looked and it appeared to be hydrolic fluid. Sure enough, the balcony where Bean Bunny sits was leaking. We took the attraction 101 and called maintenance. They came out, spent about 2 minutes, then declaired it fixed. Wow, we thought. Must have been a small leak. Glad we were only down one cycle of the show. We powered back up. Now, for those of you who haven't seen the show, Bean is an aa. During the show, Sweetums comes out looking for him. He eventually "finds" him in the balcony. All of this is on a prerecorded soundtrack. The show was underway. "Bunny ran away ..." Sweetums began the search. The curtain to the box opens, Sweetums shines his flashlight into the box, "There's bunny!" Nope, wrong. No Bunny! Seems the Einsteins in maintenance decided to just REMOVE Bean to fix him later! He couldn't be THAT important to the show, could he?! Sweetums was livid, we went 101 again and called Maintenance. You HAVE to bring Bean back - we need him! They returned and again signed off on the show. "You've brought back the bunny?" Yes, of course. Another show in progress ... "Bunny ran away..." There's the bunny! The curtain opens, the flashlight shines into the box. Yep, there's Bean Bunny. The rocket scientists in maintenance had gone to the gift shop, bought a stuffed BB toy, stuck a ruler into it, and were lying in the bottom of the box waving it like a stick puppet! We thought we were going to have to do CPR on Sweetums! For the longest time, the Sweetums greenroom had a plastic tupperware container duct taped to the wall with the stuffed BB inside. A simple sign on it read "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass!"

Definately could have been worse. It could have been the Maint person(s) in that tupperware bowl. :D: :twisted:

Randy

[Randy B]

Well, no one can improvise better than Genie at the Aladdin Show at DCA. I heard from a CM that when the Jafar-Snake failed to arise during a dramatic moment, but the audio kept going, Genie was quickly able to improvise a line about "Hearing voices". :p: Always a good show!

I guess it's better than a line referrencing Viagra. :twisted: :D:

Randy

[Theme Park Where]

Definately could have been worse. It could have been the Maint person(s) in that tupperware bowl. :D: :twisted:

Randy

I think that's who they WANTED to put in tupperware!

Another day at Muppets ... I was in the theatre position in rotation, which basically meant I spieled as people were entering and exiting the theatre, then sat on a bench in the back and watched the film for any maintenance concerns, like out of synch picture or sound, failure of the aa figures, Sweetums getting silly and deciding to ride out to do his lines on a bicycle (it happened), etc. After the initial banter with Statler and Waldorf, they sit and "watch" the show for awhile. For some reason, I looked up at them, just as Statler (or was it Waldorf?) slid out of view below the balcony wall, having fallen out of his seat. "Drunk again?" I thought as I show stopped, did the technical difficulties speech and evac'ed the theatre. We called maintenance. "The old guy's drunk," we said. They came out and fixed him back into his seat. With duct tape! Hey, it was a fix and they didn't want to keep us down for too long. This was a great quick fix. So we load the preshow into the theatre. There's much snickering as S & W do their lines. After my spiel I walk back watching the two of them. They're both upright and watching the show, occassionally looking over at each other, etc. like they're supposed to. Then comes the first banter between the two of them. Waldorf's fine (or was it Statler?) but Statler (or was it Waldorf) is "twitching" like he has an extreme nervous twitch. Seems the duct tape is inhibiting his movements and he now appears to be having a seisure. We decided to let the show run since no one was really watching them anyway. Then we 101. Call maintenance. Oops, we taped the wrong way. We forgot he moved the opposite of Waldorf (or was it Statler?). Re-tape and away we go. We're fine the next show. It actually worked. I breathed a sigh of relief and was bumped out of that position.

Next rotation, and I'm back in the theatre. Everything's working fine. Then, as S & W do their first set of banter after the opening, I look up and what do I see? Statler (or Waldorf - oh, who the heck remembers!) sliding out of his chair again. I guess duct tape and aa figures don't mix. Or whiskey sours and Statler & Waldorf don't mix. I was never really sure which. We duct taped on and off all day, and that night maintenance bolted him back into his seat permanently. I don't think a nuclear explosion would move him out of that chair now!

[joanna71985]

Oh man! Now I wished I worked at Muppets. Sounds like a lot of fun! :D:

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Hey, when you get that old, setting in a chair is optional, after RUM!!

[kurtisnelson]

Well, okay. How about The Case of the Broken Rail?

Now that you are gone, who is supposed to keep the train from blowing up?

[CMGUY89]

Oh man! Now I wished I worked at Muppets. Sounds like a lot of fun! :D:

I agree. Muppets actually sounds like fun! But Soarin' it is! HEHEH!