New York Today
The 97-year-old roller coaster, a New York landmark, was taken out of service temporarily after a crack was detected in its machinery.
Good morning. It’s Monday. James Barron is on vacation. Today we’ll look at why the Cyclone in Coney Island was taken out of service just before Labor Day weekend.
The Cyclone roller coaster, the crown jewel of Luna Park, Coney Island’s seaside amusement complex in Brooklyn, has been taken out of service just one week before Labor Day weekend.
The 97-year-old roller coaster, whose crosshatched wooden tracks and glinting neon sign are beloved symbols of summer in the city, has been out of commission since Thursday afternoon, when it was stopped in the middle of a ride.
The roller coaster was making its 85-foot ascent when amusement park operators abruptly stopped it, and passengers had to be escorted out of the cars to safety, according to the city Department of Buildings. A video of the incident captured by a witness shows one rider gripping the railing of the roller coaster and walking cautiously down the track’s wooden slats with the help of a worker.
The roller coaster was stopped because of a crack in a piece of its motor-room machinery, called a chain sprocket, according to the Buildings Department. No one was injured, a spokesman for the department said in an email, but the city did not learn what had happened until a local news station reached out for information on Thursday night.
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