L. A. Thompson built the world's first amusement railway, a small switchback at Coney Island in 1884. Todd called him the "Scenic Railway King". He had the Zone's Scenic Railway running by June 1914. His crew of 35 or 40 men then moved east to build the Racer beside and around the Aeroscope field, one of the longest rides of its kind, which took five months.
Safety was its selling point. The wheel flanges were on the outside of the rails, so derailment was practically impossible. It had a full block-signal system and a brakeman on every train. Two trains were started at once by a power starter and really raced, the winner decided by differences in momentum from unequal loads, so the more heavily loaded train usually won. The Racer cost a little under $42,500 and took in $133,789.45, twelfth among all concessions.