that's when lamarcus thompson opened his new switchback railway, 600 foot track considered the world's first roller coaster. the idea of people sliding on a track goes back to the 17th century when russians would build tall ice slides. europeans built rides with wheels in the early 1800s but the first version of the modern roller coaster we see today came from thompson. he was inspired by a former mining railroad in pennsylvania. the mauch chunk switchback was a gravity-run track that started carrying passengers along the line in the mid 1800s. after three years of development, thompson created his own switchback railway at coney island in 1884. it was a single track where passengers got off on the opposite end. it took less than three weeks for thompson to make back his sixteen hundred dollar investment. thompson's original switchback railway closed a year or two after it opened but that famous site on coney island would end up hosting another landmark ride. "the cyclone" at coney island started running in 1927 and is still going as the country's oldest running ride. it was the anchor