Utah NEW SNOWBIRD TRAM CABIN DAMAGED DURING INSTALLATION

[Philpug]

SAM Magazine—Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, May 31, 2022—One of the two new tram cabins being installed at Snowbird, Utah, fell to ground on Saturday, May 29, leaving it damaged beyond repair. The cabin was being lifted by a crane onto the hanger when it fell, according to Snowbird general manager Dave Fields, who said he is grateful no one was injured. The state-of-the-art cabins will be the first in the United States to have open air rooftop balconies.

The new cabins—along with a new drive system, braking system, bullwheels, and other upgrades—were scheduled to be installed by Doppelmayr and the tram reopened sometime in June for scenic rides. In addition to the rooftop balconies, which can fit up to 15 people, the cabins will also have glass panels in the floors. Both features will be used for summer operations only, according to the resort.






Full story here:

New Snowbird Tram Cabin Damaged During Installation - Ski Area Management

SAM Magazine—Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, May 31, 2022—One of the two new tram cabins being installed at Snowbird, Utah, fell to ground on Saturday, May 29, leaving it damaged beyond repair. The cabin was being lifted by a crane onto the hanger when it fell, according to Snowbird general...

www.saminfo.com

 

[slowrider]

Somebody is in big trouble. Fortunately no injuries.

 

[scott43]

Ooops

 

[Brian Finch]

Yawn….. this happens at Magic Mtn twice a season.

 

[fatbob]

They did commission a spare one presumes?

 

[motogreg]

well that's unfortunate, story is they'll run with one new and one old.

 

[pchewn]

Were they trying to lift it using this lanyard? https://www.skitalk.com/threads/sta...uted-to-stowe-zipline-employee’s-death.27410/

 

[Lauren]

My favorite question to ask old-timer engineers and construction managers is "what's the biggest mistake you've made on the job?". Good stories always follow. I wonder who will be claiming this story in the future...

 

[mikel]

There were some links posted on Mon in the Utah thread. I think @Rudi Riet posted one with time lapse pics from @Lift Blog?

 

[scott43]

My favorite question to ask old-timer engineers and construction managers is "what's the biggest mistake you've made on the job?". Good stories always follow. I wonder who will be claiming this story in the future...

Yeah I worked for 12 years in an engineering/arch firm..we had some nice ones. And some unfortunate accidents as well....

 

[Rudi Riet]

There were some links posted on Mon in the Utah thread. I think @Rudi Riet posted one with time lapse pics from @Lift Blog?

Yup, I did post it in the Utah resorts/meetups thread. The only upside is that the crane was being operated by the Doppermayr/Garaventa crew at the time so the fault goes to them. Sadly it's a very expensive mess to swallow, and the lead time for a new cabin is not short. They'd already had delays in getting these new cabins to Utah due to supply chain issues with shipping, so... awkward.

Methinks they may end up flying a replacement cabin (at great expense) on a super-size cargo aircraft just to save time... if they can get a replacement cabin built before ski season.

My question is: it's a jigback system, so the whole tram run is predicated on having one car going up while the other descends. How will they counterweight the system if they run only one car?

 

[Tony S]

My question is: it's a jigback system, so the whole tram run is predicated on having one car going up while the other descends. How will they counterweight the system if they run only one car?

The way I read it, they were going to use one new car and one old car. How get them to have similar weights is another question.

 

[crgildart]

Did they find a coyote under it??

 

[crgildart]

The way I read it, they were going to use one new car and one old car. How get them to have similar weights is another question.

Weight of the full car going up would still be different of the weight of the empty car coming down even if they were identical cars right??

 

[Seldomski]

My favorite question to ask old-timer engineers and construction managers is "what's the biggest mistake you've made on the job?". Good stories always follow. I wonder who will be claiming this story in the future...

Good engineering stories don't usually involve good engineering.

 

[scott43]

Weight of the full car going up would still be different of the weight of the empty car coming down even if they were identical cars right??

Well they're designed to be equal plus the live load, which is the passengers. You now have unequal plus the live load. Could be outside of the design parameters. Say you designed for 1500lbs of live load. And suppose the car difference is now that. You could effectively be trying to haul double the design weight. They won't allow that.

 

[coskigirl]

They did commission a spare one presumes?

That's an extremely expensive spare for a possible occurrence that is quite rare. What would they do with a spare that isn't used?

 

[Lauren]

My question is: it's a jigback system, so the whole tram run is predicated on having one car going up while the other descends. How will they counterweight the system if they run only one car?

I wondered the same thing…this is the response I found:

 

[fatbob]

That's an extremely expensive spare for a possible occurrence that is quite rare. What would they do with a spare that isn't used?

Sorry sarcasm doesn't come across well in print. But more seriously one assumes high penalty clauses and priority at the factory for a rebuild before you embark on a project like this.


Of course didn't help Copper and their disastrous decision to replace both main lifts at the same time and break ground very late. I imagine families that had their Xmas ruined still haven't forgiven that.

 

[focker]

I wondered the same thing…this is the response I found:

View attachment 170403

That's not going to help the already long tram liftlines any.... Yikes..