CONEY ISLAND'S CENTRIFUGAL RAILWAY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2050, 11 January 1901, Page 3

CONEY ISLAND'S CENTRIFUGAL RAILWAY.

One of the most remarkable applications of scientific methods to the amusement «f th* public is in the Boyton centrifugal railway, which has been added to the attractions of Coney Island. The railway consists of an elevated inclined track curving upward and downward near its middle to form an oval loop, 24ft high and 20ft wide. The highest point of the railway is 35ft from the ground, and between this point and the beginning of the oval loop is a stretch of track 75ft in length. The car is hauled up by a cable to the point of maximum elevation, and is then cut loose. With a constantly accelerating speed it plunges down the incline of 75ft, dropping a distance of nearly 35ft in this brief interval, whirls around the loop, and reaches the station after running up a heavy grade, whereby its speed is considerably reduced. 8o great is the velocity of the car when it reaches the end of its downward plunge of 75fb that at the highest point of the oval it is held against the track in opposition to the force of gravity by the centrifugal force alone. If a bucket of water be swung around at arm’s length not a drop will be lest, provided the motion be swift enough. And the passengers in the car can no more fall headlong from their scats than the water in the whirling bucket.. Various safety devices are of course adopted, but no necessity for them has yet arisen.