Jazz Railway (sometimes Jazz Railroad) was an early model line of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

s incorporating a steel-frame structure. These operated at various amusement parks and fairgrounds during the mid to late 1920s. The coaster model is considered to be the first of the Wild Mouse style roller coaster.

History and design

While they ran on track constructed of laminated wood and steel—defining the coasters as wooden by modern standards—Jazz Railways were marketed by the Traver Engineering Company as being all steel. The supporting structure of the track was indeed all-steel, and this was hailed as a new innovation in roller coaster design. Advantages of the prefabricated steel support structure included reduced cost, imperviousness to rot and fire, and a quicker set-up and take-down process—which would allow the coaster to be moved from location to location. The name "Jazz Railway" itself was reported by Traver to be a way to distance the design from the wooden-framed roller coasters of the past. Jazz Railways were important in its demonstration of (nearly) all-steel roller coaster construction. This presaged Traver's later

Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters were a model line of roller coasters designed and marketed by Harry Traver and his company Traver Engineering in the 1920s. Despite their name, they had a reputation of being dangerous and are regarded by many historian ...

, which utilized the same building technique as Jazz Railway, but on a grander (and more frightening) scale. Jazz Railways were also important as a forerunner of the modern Wild Mouse coaster design.

Ride experience

Like modern Wild Mouse coasters, Jazz Railways were relatively compact in their design. The coasters had a footprint of . Besides their steel frame structure, another innovation which connected Jazz Railways to the later Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters was its "jump" or "stunt" track (referred to in later Traver Cyclones as a "Jazz Track"). This consisted of rapidly undulating track that created a rapid shimmying motion.

Locations

The first Jazz Railway was built at

Rocky Glen Park Known by a variety of names over its 101-year existence, Rocky Glen Park was a park near Moosic, Pennsylvania. Founded by Arthur Frothingham in 1886 as a picnic park, it was transformed into an amusement park by engineer and entrepreneur Frederic ...

near

Moosic, Pennsylvania Moosic ( ) is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, south of downtown Scranton and northeast of downtown Wilkes-Barre, on the Lackawanna River. Moosic is in a former coal-mining region. A few older industries existed at one time, includ ...

in 1925 after being tested at Traver's factory. Subsequent coasters were built at (or relocated to), the

Sesquicentennial Exposition The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition of 1926 was a world's fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its purpose was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the 50th anniversary o ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the

Alabama State Fairgrounds The Alabama State Fairgrounds are located in West Birmingham, adjacent to the Five Points West shopping area. The State Fair Arena and Exposition Building covers a combined total of . The fairgrounds were acquired by the City of Birmingham in 194 ...

, as well as parks in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

References

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