CRAZY COASTERS
04/19/2024 |
The Friday File: The first American roller coaster was a stretch of repurposed coal mine railroad track in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley in 1873. The chuch-chuch sound comes from the 1910 invention of the safety ratchet that prevents coasters from rolling backwards. Coney Island’s wooden Cyclone debuted in 1927, while Disney’s Matterhorn pioneered steel coasters in 1959, and Knott’s Berry Farm was the first to turn riders upside down in 1975.