Roller Coasters, by Scott Rutherford (oversized TPB, 2003, $4)- Avail. 2/17
Okay, I should probably confess to you that roller coasters make me queasy. Today I found out I even feel queasy looking at a book about roller coasters. But I know you all are much braver than I.
Probably the first roller coaster in North America was built by Josiah White in 1827. Well, actually what he built was a railroad to carry coal. Mules would haul up the empty cars to the mountain top. After coal was loaded into the cars, the cars would travel down the winding mountain path by gravity, the mules riding in their own cars. One afternoon some brave soul asked to ride down in a coal car, and a new entertainment was born. Tourists had to pay 50 cents to ride one way, a princely sum in 1827!
There are two basic types of roller coasters- ones with wood tracks and ones with steel tracks. (Except that some wood tracks have steel supports, and some steel ones have wood supports. Hmm.) The first adult steel track was built for Disneyland in 1959)
Steel coasters "offer a more controlled ride experience than the wooden variety. The precision with which they are designed and the tight tolerances applied to steel coast trains gives steel-track rides a relatively quiet, sanitized flavor, but at the same time it allows for a far more convoluted track plan, complete with vertical loops, barrel rolls, and other acrobatics..."
Heat, humidity, and especially wind make a difference in coaster speeds. If the winds are high enough they can even cause rollbacks (where a train doesn't make it over the top of the hill.) Riding a coaster during a light rain can make the coaster speed up. (Think of oil and water mixing on top a track.)
As to where you should sit, it depends. If you want a smooth ride, sit in the middle. If you want to experience the best view, or love floating low-G moments, sit in the front. If you want a wilder, whip-like ride, sit in the back. (Or, if you are like me, avoid sitting in one at all!)
The final chapter here includes pictures of the newest rides, but since this book is almost 10 years old there are probably even worse ones now... oops, what I meant to say was "wilder" ones. Look for this book on top the glass case in the front.
