Lightning (Revere Beach)
| Lightning | |
|---|---|
Postcard illustrating the Lightning roller coaster at Revere Beach
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| Revere Beach | |
| Status | Removed |
| Opening date | July 2, 1927 |
| Closing date | 1933 |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Wood |
| Manufacturer | Traver Engineering |
| Designer | Harry G. Traver |
| Model | Giant Cyclone Safety Coaster |
| Inversions | 0 |
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Lightning at RCDB Pictures of Lightning at RCDB |
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Lightning was a wooden roller coaster that operated from 1927 until 1933 at Revere Beach in Revere, Massachusetts. It was one of the infamous Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters which were constructed by noted roller coaster engineer Harry G. Traver in the mid-1920s (the rides were, in fact, anything but safe, and became known as the "terrifying triplets"). Lightning was the only Giant Cyclone Safety Coaster not to bear the "Cyclone" name, as a roller coaster named Cyclone already existed at Revere Beach when Lightning was constructed in 1927. The other two members of this group of coasters included the Crystal Beach Cyclone and the Palisades Park Cyclone (A fourth Traver roller coaster named Zip had a similar—but smaller—design and was installed at Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon).
Although the precise dimensions of Lightning are not reported, its common design heritage with the Crystal Beach Cyclone suggests that these coasters share many technical specifications, such as heights around 100 feet (30 m), many steeply-banked turns and a ground-level figure 8 track. In fact, there was no truly straight track apart from the station. Lightning's hybrid steel structure allowed for much more steeply banked curves than would have been possible in an ordinary wooden-framed roller coaster of the day. These steeply banked tracks often made quick transitions to steep banks in the opposite directions. These quick rolling transitions were one of the primary reasons for the violent nature of the Lightning.
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Wikipedia