For the 1909 season, the Figure 8 was joined by the park's second coaster, The Blue Streak.
The Blue Streak took up most of the southeastern corner of the park, displacing the tennis courts and sporting fields that had formerly been there.
From start to finish, the coaster ran a course of about a half a mile.
About half the course ran parallel to the busy Big Four Railroad tracks not 50 feet away. Part of the outbound trip aimed the rider perpendicular to the tracks before dramatically veering south. It must have been thrilling when trains were on the tracks.
New technology allowed the Blue Streak to be a much wilder ride than its predecessor. The hills were higher (up to 60 ft). The dips were lower. The turns were sharper.
The new coaster was also much, much faster (up to 60 m.p.h.). By comparison, a Model T Ford had a top speed of 45 m.p.h. For a time the Blue Streak was billed as the fastest coaster in the state of Ohio. |