Roller Coasters have been around since the 19th century, and the general public's hunger for more, better coasters has not waned one bit.
I rode my first coaster (Gadget's Go-Coaster at Disneyland) when I was three, and a lifelong obsession began (I have the three-inch-thick binder of coaster pictures to prove it). On the following pages, I'll take you on a journey of where these wooden and steel thrills came from, and how they're evolving even more.
The first popular "coaster" was The Scenic Railway, a repurposed mine cart track that "attained speeds of 65 miles per hour." Many innovators saw the success that The Scenic Railway brought, and the rest is history. Soon, continuous circuit tracks were invented, seats faced forward (instead of sideways), cars were lifted up hills by chains, and in 1959, the company Arrow Dynamics in Anaheim, California created the first Roller Coaster with Tubular Steel Tracks: The Matterhorn Boblsleds at Disneyland.
