Introduction

Hello, Flametongue from Idylwild here. This blog will be updated whenever I feel like it. Today, I feel like talking about roller coasters. The Oxford American Dictionary defines "roller coaster" as "an amusement ride consisting of an elevated track with open-car trains that rise and plunge steeply." This clearly tells us very little. Questions abound in my mind. Where did they come from? Why are there so many types? Where are my headphones? The last question may be easily discarded, as it has nothing to do with anything, and I found them on the floor next to the stereo. Anyway, to understand where roller coasters came from, we need to pay a little visit to Catherine The Great, in Russia.

A popular pastime in Russia was building wooden ramps, covering them with ice, and then sliding down them on sleds. This was great fun, but it had one problem: it only worked during the winter. Catherine the Great wanted to demonstrate this to visiting nobles, so she had wheels attached to the sleds, allowing for year-round entertainment. The French took this idea and modified it slightly, creating ramps composed of wooden rollers, which the sleds could coast down. This is supposedly where the name came from. In France, the first looping coaster was created; it consisted of a drop into a circular loop. As you can see from the picture, it is pretty hideous. It was also probably pretty painful. Circular loops are something that only Anton Schwarzkopf can do, and we'll get to him later. Anyway, the coaster soon fell out of fashion in Europe, and most thought that that was the end of that nonsense.

In America, in 1873, an inclined railway opened up for passengers. It had previously carried coal down a mountain. The train would be pulled up a half-mile slope by mules (and later motors) and allowed to run down the other side, reaching speeds of over 70 miles per hour. The total length of track was over 26 miles. This kinda sorta blows the length record out of the water. Unfortunately, it closed in 1929. However, in 1884, the first "true" roller coaster was built by LaMarcus A. Thompson. It consisted of a series of undulating dips on two parallel tracks. The basic premise was this. Passengers would board the car, ride down, and then push the thing up to the other side, where the process was repeated. One year later, some guy invented the lift hill, whioch eliminated the passengers-pushing-the-car-up-the-hill bit. This allowed for turns and stuff, and soon the figure-eight design became popular. Two of these figure-eight rides exist today: Leap-The-Dips at Lakemont Park and another one in England.

I'll continue this sometime soon.