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Here at the office in Sunbury, we like to watch Discovery Channel’s American Chopper at lunch. If you’re not familiar, its a “reality” show about Orange County Choppers and all the custom bikes they build. To be honest the dialog is pretty contrived, but the thing I like about the show is watching them build bikes from scratch. We like to joke that Great Coasters should have a similar reality show. We can’t create trains as fast as OCC creates bikes, but we could certainly bring a lot of drama to the show. The office here is filled with characters, and sometimes things get stressful and it gets really interesting .   It would definitely be entertaining enough for Discovery Channel. I think people would like watching what we do. Unfortunately I don’t know how much we can even show since a lot of our techniques are a secret so…..

To switch gears, our china trains are about 99% done. With the exception of the 5 chassis’ that need to be inspected, all the cars are set to be completed this week. Over a dozen of the cars are done while others are only missing a couple bolts and nuts. Its really cool for me to see what is basically a finished product. When I first started, these cars were nothing but chassis, and now they’re all grown up! I’ve attached some pictures of the shop to show how crowded its has become. But on the bright side, we are also breaking ground this week on our new building expansion. So within a few weeks we should have a much bigger shop to operate in. Maybe if we have more space, Discovery Channel will want to do our show…stay tuned!

Jeff

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Like most 40 hour jobs, GCI interns work the standard 8 hour day. Get to work at 8. A nice 1 hour lunch at noon. And by 5, my time is my own. And when you are 5 hours from home and 7 hours from your friends at school, killing this time suddenly isn’t as easy as it once was. Living in PA by myself has been an experience for sure. Going in, I’ll admit, I had no idea what I was going to do with all my spare time. But fortunately, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I know I haven’t talked a whole lot about what I do at work yet, but I thought this would be a good time to talk about some of the fun things I do outside of the shop…

My most frequent leisure activity is going to Knoebels. If you are not familiar, Knoebels is a small family run amusement park in Elysburg, PA, which is only a half hour from my apartment. This little gem in the woods might just be the happiest little place on earth (disney schmisney). The park is completely flooded with trees, and with free parking and admission, you can come and enjoy the wonderful atmosphere without spending a dime. The food is good and reasonably priced. And ride tickets aren’t so bad either. I’ve had plenty nights already this year where I’d just meet the guys for dinner at the park, ride the Phoenix and the world-class bumper cars and go home (approx. cost: $10-11, dinner included). It’s always a really fun and relaxing way to end my day.

Another favorite activity of mine is to go kayaking on the Susquehanna River. I’m lucky enough to use a friend’s kayak when we go out. Whether its on the weekend or after work for a sunset tour, we always seem to go out for hours and hours, and it has been some of the most relaxing moments of my time here. The last time we went out after work, we actually saw almost a dozen bald eagles flying over head or perched on a tree. Pretty awesome stuff. Although we generally don’t paddle too hard, the river has a few brief areas of rapids that are good for a quick little thrill. Nothing huge, but big enough to get you wet (especially if you don’t know what you are doing).

I could talk more about leisure, but before I wrap this up, I better talk a little about progress on the trains. At this point, we’re getting close to done. We’ve got most cars up to lap-bar status, which is only a couple phases away from being ready to ship. The shop is certainly getting crowded as the cars get bigger. This can be funny/scary when you think you are alone in the shop, and someone pops up from behind a car after installing a lap-bar can. Its a jungle in there and the jungle gets denser every day. I’m personally looking forward to deforestation as the cars could potentially leave the shop at the end of the week. Lets hope.

But until next time, thanks for reading

Jeff

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So now that I’ve gotten settled with this website, its time for me to finally start talking about my experience here in the first few weeks. I started back at the beginning of July, so I’ve actually already been here for 3 weeks now. And so far its been a lot of fun.

The first week took a lot of getting used to. I had to get used to living alone for the first time in my life. I had to get used to living outside of New England for the first time in my life. And I had to get used to building Millennium Flyer trains. As a civil engineer familiar with bridges, buildings, and highways, I had to make the difficult transition into a mechanical frame of mind in order to understand the complicated train drawings. For a while, everything seemed go be a different language. Even simple terms like ‘road wheel axle’ sounded Greek to me. But over time I adjusted and started to speak the language myself.

The next two weeks have been much more smooth, however, it seems that every time I finally get the hang of things, I’m introduced into something totally different that makes me feel stupid again. Its an endless learning process, but fortunately….I’m learning!

When I got to Great Coasters, the trains for China were already underway. All the chassis for both trains were in the shop, and some even had a full set of wheels on them. Fortunately for me, there were a handful of chassis that were completely naked, and I was able to build those up from the beginning. This way I got to learn how every mechanism gets installed…well so far. There is still a lot to be done.

Since I’ve started, we’ve a come a long way on a few cars. A couple cars have wheels, anti-rollback dogs, seat cushions, seat belts, lap bars, etc., while others are still mostly just a chassis. Its actually cool to see the variety of progress across the trains (I’ll be posting some pictures later in the week). The biggest reason why we can’t keep each car at the same stage is because of our temporary lack of materials. Unfortunately we’ve been at the mercy of our vendors as we wait for more things to come in. Until then there is only so much we can do. I actually don’t mind this. Since we don’t have everything we need, we aren’t pressed for time to get things done, and it has allowed me to take my time and thoroughly learn each step of the process. This way I’ll be able to do things at speed when it matters most.

And that time is approaching fast. China trains need to be shipped out in a few weeks, and though we are far along, there is still much to do. As our deadline approaches, things are going to get interesting…

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Hello eveyone! My name is Jeff and I’m the new intern here at Great Coasters. I’m real excited to take over this blog, so get ready for some heart-stopping action as I narrate the dramatic tales of a college intern trying to conquer and build the legendary Millennium Flyer trains…

I’ve got a lot to talk about, but I’ll start with an introduction. Our tale begins twenty one years ago in a small town in north-central Connecticut where I was born and raised. Eleven years later, a young Jeff dropped his jaw at the site of the most beautiful ride he’d ever seen, the Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England. But, I’m getting ahead of myself a little. Growing up, my parents used to take me to the former Riverside Amusement Park (now known as SFNE). At 47″, I was heartbroken to learn that I was too short to ride the Thunderbolt, and the next year I returned to finally conquer it. It was then that I realized that roller coasters were really cool. Over time, the park grew and added new rides like the Mind Eraser (which at the time I thought was really cool, but hey things change). In 2000, the newly named Six Flags New England added its masterpiece, and fell in love with what became the #1 steel coaster on the planet.

For years after Superman was built, my family and I would get Six Flags season passes (because they are such a good deal) and head down the park a couple times a year. I’ll never forget all the warm summer nights at the park, riding Superman over and over again. I just couldn’t get enough of that ride. When I was in high school, I started to explore other parks that were in the area, and by the time I was in college I was a full on coaster freak.

I’m now a student at Northeastern University in Boston studying civil engineering. What’s funny is the reason I chose civil engineering had nothing to do with roller coasters. I just really liked civil. It wasn’t until freshman year that I realized that civil engineers build roller coasters. It really got me thinking, and what started as “wow, that would be really cool”, slowly became “I absolutely need to do that”. So I started getting serious and sending emails and resumes to potential companies, but in the back of my mind I really didn’t think it would work. So in the meantime, I started travelling around the country going to new parks and riding new rides, increasing my knowledge of the industry while having a blast at the same time.

In the fall of ’09 I had my first break. I was browsing the internet when I ran into THIS website, and saw that Evan was a former intern who also went to Northeastern. I contacted him immediately and Evan told me all his stories of how he got an internship and eventually a job with GCII. I was thrilled, motivated, and desperate to do what ever it took to get there too. And by shear luck, it wasn’t long until Great Coasters needed another intern. Under Evan’s guidance, I followed all necessary steps to apply for the job, and lucky enough, a few months later here I am, blogging about the coolest job I’ve ever had.

So get ready everyone. For the next 6 months, prepare to be engulfed in all the adventurous stories that summarize the experience of a GCII intern. There will be stories of love, hatred, envy, lust, greed, and passsion…or something like that. Stay tuned!