CONEY’S 6 M.P.H. COASTER OF FEAR (1884)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** When we research the history of our clients’ homes, we always come across the odd, the interesting, the unbelievable, and the ironic. Sometimes, though, we come across the FUN! In 1884, the original Coney Island thrill-ride was born – its first roller coaster – The Switchback Railway. No, it did not utilize a “90-degree vertical drop, followed by a 100-foot loop and a zero-gravity roll, along with dives, hills and a corkscrew — all within two minutes,” as the current Thunderbolt does. It did not reach speeds of 55 miles per hour. And it did not cost $10 million to build. The Switchback Railway, though, was the first roller coaster designed as an amusement ride in America. It was the coaster that sparked the first wave of the roller coaster mania in the United States. And it warranted LaMarcus Adna Thompson, the creator of the unprecedented coaster, the title “Father of Gravity.” Based upon a coal-mining train that had started carrying passengers as a thrill ride in 1827, to ride the Switchback set you back a mere 5 cents. Riders would climb a tower to board the large bench-like car and then were pushed off to coast 600 feet down the track to another tower. And its speed? Just over 6 […]
