Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

History of the roller coaster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of the roller coaster
Remove ads

Roller coaster amusement rides have origins which date back to ice slides constructed in 18th-century Russia. Early technology featured sleds or wheeled carts that were sent down hills of ice reinforced by wooden supports. The technology evolved in the 19th century to feature railroad track using wheeled cars that were securely locked to the track. Newer innovations emerged in the early 20th century with side friction and underfriction wheel technologies to allow for greater speeds and sharper turns. By the mid-to-late 20th century, these elements intensified with the introduction of steel roller coaster designs and the ability to invert riders.

Thumb
Coney Island Cyclone in Brooklyn was built in 1927 and refurbished in 1975.
Remove ads

History

Summarize
Perspective

Beginnings

The world's oldest roller coasters descended from the "Russian mountains", which were hills of ice built in the 17th century for the purpose of sliding, located in the gardens of palaces around the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg.[1] Other languages also reference Russian mountains when referring to roller coasters, such as the Spanish montaña rusa [es], the Italian montagne russe [it], and the French montagnes russes [fr]. The Russian term for roller coaster, американские горки [ru] (amerikanskie gorki), translates literally as "American mountains".[2]

The recreational attractions were called katalnaya gorka (Катальная Горка) or "sliding mountain" in Russian. Most were built with a height of 70 to 80 feet (21 to 24 m), a 50-degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports on either side. The slides became popular with the Russian upper class. Catherine the Great of Russia constructed a summer version of the ride at her estate in the 18th century, which relied on wheeled carts that rode along grooved tracks instead of sleds.[3][4][5]

The Riding Mountain (aka La Grande Glisade) entertainment pavilion designed by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Tsarskoye Selo royal residence was built in 1754–1757. It was a huge building in the shape of rotunda. It had a trail with five hills which were covered with ice during the winter. In the summer, the trails featured wheeled trolleys secured in steel grooves mounted on the wooden trails. Due to a pendulum-like motion drawn from inertia, all five hills could be traversed in one ride.[6] The ride was engineered by Russian scientist Andrey Nartov.[7] The Anglican clergyman John Glen King mentioned that some Englishmen visiting Russia called them "Flying Mountains" and described them as follows:

You will observe that there are five mounts of unequal height: the first and the highest is full thirty feet (9 m) perpendicular altitude; the momentum with which they descend this carries them over the second, which is about five or six feet (1.5 or 1.8 m) lower, just sufficient to allow for the friction and resistance; and so on to the last, from which they are conveyed by a gentle descent, with nearly same velocity, over a piece of water into a little island. These slides, which are about a furlong and a half (300 m) in length, are made of wood, that may be used in summer as well as in winter. The process is, two of four persons fit in a little carriage and one stands behind, for more there are in it the greater the swiftness with which it goes; it runs on castors and in grooves to keep it on its right direction, and it descends with a wonderful rapidity. Under the hill, is a machine worked by horses for drawing the carriages back again, with the company in them. Such a work as this would have been enormous in most countries for the labour and expense in cost, as well as the vast quantity of wood used in it. At the same place, there is another artificial mount which goes in a spiral line, and in my opinion, for I have tried it also, is very disagreable; as it seems always leaning on one side, and the person feels in danger of falling out of seat.[8]

Katalnaya gora was dismantled in 1792–1795. Currently in its place is the Granite Terrace in the Catherine Park.[7]

Thumb
Promenades Aériennes in Paris, 1817.

Russian soldiers occupying Paris from 1815 to 1816, after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, may have introduced the Russian amusement of sledding down steep hills to the French.[9] In July 1817, a French banker named Nicolas Beaujon opened Parc Beaujon, an amusement park on the Champs-Élysées. Its most famous attraction was the Promenades Aériennes or "Aerial Strolls".[10] It featured wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep them on course, and higher speeds.[4] The three-wheel carts were towed to the top of a tower, and released to descend two curving tracks on either side. King Louis XVIII of France came to see the park, but it is not recorded if he tried the ride. Before long, there were seven similar rides in Paris: Les Montagnes Françaises (The French Mountains), Le Delta, Les Montagnes de Belleville (The Mountains of Belleville), Les Montagnes Américaines (The American Mountains), Les Montages Lilliputiennes, (The Miniature Mountains), Les Montagnes Suisses (The Swiss Mountains), and Les Montagnes Égyptiennes (The Egyptian Mountains).[9]

In the beginning, these attractions were primarily for the upper classes. In 1845, an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens opened in Copenhagen, which was meant for the middle class. These new parks featured roller coasters as permanent attractions. The first permanent coaster with a looping track was most likely also built in Paris from an English design in 1846, with a single-person wheeled sled running through a 13-foot (4 m) diameter vertical loop. These early single loop designs were called centrifugal railways. In 1887, a French entrepreneur, Joseph Oller, the owner of the Moulin Rouge music hall, built Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville (The Russian Mountains of Belleville) a permanent roller coaster with a length of 200 meters in the form of a double-eight, later enlarged to four figure-eight-shaped loops.[9]

Scenic railways

In the 1850s, a mining company in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, constructed the Mauch Chunk gravity railroad, a brakeman-controlled, 8.7-mile (14 km) downhill track used to deliver coal to Mauch Chunk (now known as Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania.[11] By 1872, the "Gravity Road", as it became known, was selling rides to thrill seekers. Railway companies used similar tracks to provide amusement on days when ridership was low.

Thumb
Thompson's Switchback Railway, 1884.

Using this idea as a basis, LaMarcus Adna Thompson began work on a gravity Switchback Railway that opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in 1884.[12] Passengers climbed to the top of a platform and rode a bench-like car down the 600 ft (180 m) track up to the top of another tower where the vehicle was switched to a return track and the passengers took the return trip.[13] This track design was soon replaced with an oval complete circuit.[14] In 1885, Phillip Hinkle introduced the first complete-circuit coaster with a lift hill, Gravity Pleasure Road, which became the most popular attraction at Coney Island.[14] Not to be outdone, Thompson patented his design for a roller coaster that included dark tunnels with painted scenery in 1886. "Scenic Railways" were soon found in amusement parks across the county,[14] with Frederick Ingersoll's construction company building many of them in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Growing popularity and innovations

Thumb
Loop the Loop, an early looping roller coaster at Coney Island, 1906

As roller coasters grew in popularity, experimentation in coaster dynamics took off. In the 1880s, the concept of a vertical loop was again explored by Lina Beecher, and in 1895 the concept came into fruition with Flip Flap Railway, located at Sea Lion Park in Brooklyn, and shortly afterward with Loop the Loop at Olentangy Park near Columbus, Ohio, as well as similar coasters in Atlantic City and Coney Island. The rides exerted dangerously high G-forces, and many passengers suffered whiplash. Both were soon dismantled, and looping coasters would disappear for half a century.

The oldest operating roller coaster, which originated during this time period, is Leap-The-Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania, a side friction roller coaster built in 1902. The oldest wooden roller coaster in the United Kingdom is the Scenic Railway at Dreamland Margate in Margate, Kent, and it features a system where the brakeman rides the car with wheels. It was severely damaged by fire on April 7, 2008, but was subsequently restored and reopened to the public in 2015.[15] Scenic Railway at Melbourne's Luna Park built in 1912, is the world's second-oldest roller coaster, and it also features a system where the brakeman rides the car with wheels.

By 1919, the first underfriction roller coaster had been developed by John A. Miller.[16] Soon, roller coasters spread to amusement parks all around the world. One of the most well-known historical roller coasters, the Coney Island Cyclone, opened at Coney Island in 1927. Like Cyclone, most early roller coasters were made of wood. Many old wooden roller coasters are still operational, at parks such as Kennywood and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. One of only 13 remaining examples of John Miller's work worldwide is Roller Coaster at Lagoon in Utah. The coaster opened in 1921 and is the 6th oldest coaster in the world.[17]

The Great Depression marked the end of the golden age of roller coasters, as amusement parks across the United States went into a decline that resulted in less demand for new coasters, as well as the closure of many parks and rides. This general slump lasted until 1972, when The Racer opened at Kings Island. Designed by John C. Allen, the instant success of The Racer helped to ignite a renaissance for roller coasters, reviving worldwide interest throughout the industry.

The rise of steel coasters

Thumb
Matterhorn Bobsleds was the world's first tubular steel roller coaster.

In 1959, the Disneyland theme park introduced a new design breakthrough in roller coasters with Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the first roller coaster to use a tubular steel track. Unlike conventional wooden rails, which are generally formed using steel strips mounted on laminated wood, tubular steel can be bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel, although wooden roller coasters are still being built, along with hybrids of steel and wood.

In 1975, the first modern-day roller coaster with an inverting element opened: Corkscrew, located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. In 1976, the vertical loop made a comeback with Great American Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.

Remove ads

Timeline of notable roller coasters

Summarize
Perspective

The roller coasters mentioned here are significant for their role in the amusement industry. They were notable for specific reasons, including:

  • First roller coaster of a specific kind, style, manufacturing material or unique technology; ground-breaking
  • First time a particular record-breaking threshold was crossed
  • Historical significance

1700 to 1799

1750s

1784

  • Catherine the Great has a summer version of the "Russian mountain" slides, featuring sleds with wheels, built at her estate in Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg.[4]

1800 to 1899

1817

  • First roller coaster featuring cars that locked onto the track, first roller coaster to feature two cars racing or dueling with each other: Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville (Russian Mountains of Belleville) in Paris.
  • First complete-circuit roller coaster: Promenades Aériennes (Aerial Walk) in Paris.

1827

1846

1885

1896

1900 to 1970

1902

1904

1907

1908

1913

1920

1921

  • First roller coaster designed by Mack Rides: Szenerie-Bergbahn, a traveling roller coaster.

1925

1926

1928

1929

1930s

  • The first wild mouse coasters begin to appear across the United States.

1935

1946

1952

1959

1966

1970s

1975

1976

Thumb
Corkscrew at Cedar Point was the first roller coaster with three inversions.

1977

1978

1979

1980s

1980

1981

1982

Thumb
The Racer at Kings Island was the first roller coaster to operate vehicles in reverse.

1983

1984

1985

1987

  • First roller coaster with six inversions: Vortex at Kings Island.[20]

1988

1989

  • First complete-circuit roller coaster to exceed 200 feet (61 m) in height: Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point.

1990s

1990

1992

Thumb
Dragon Khan at PortAventura Park, the first roller coaster to feature eight inversions.

1995

1996

1997

1998

Thumb
Oblivion at Alton Towers was the first dive roller coaster.

1999

2000s

2000

Thumb
Millennium Force at Cedar Point was the first complete-circuit roller coaster to exceed 300 feet (91 m) in height, and the first to use an elevator cable lift.

2001

  • First roller coaster with a 90° vertical drop, first complete-circuit roller coaster to exceed speeds of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), fastest roller coaster acceleration: Dodonpa at Fuji-Q Highland (the vertical drop was removed in favor of a vertical loop in 2017.)
  • First roller coaster to use a pneumatic propulsion system, first roller coaster designed by S&S – Sansei Technologies: Hypersonic XLC at Kings Dominion.
  • First roller coaster to feature both a lift hill and propulsion system: California Screamin' at Disney California Adventure, Anaheim, California.
  • Tower of Terror opens at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg as the tallest roller coaster in Africa, as well as having the highest G-force of any roller coaster currently operating (6.3 Gs).

2002

2003

2004

2005

2007

2008

2009

2010s

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

  • Goliath opens at Six Flags Great America as the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, the longest drop, and the first wooden coaster with two inversions.

2015

2016

  • First launched wooden coaster: Lightning Rod at Dollywood (the launch was removed in favor of a chain lift in 2024).

2017

Thumb
Lightning Rod at Dollywood, the first launched wooden roller coaster.

2018

2019

2020s

2020

  • Orion opens at Kings Island as the seventh giga coaster.
  • First launched flying coaster: F.L.Y. at Phantasialand.

2022

2024

2025

Remove ads

See also

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads