This ride is a historic gem, a 1930s Philadelphia Toboggan Company roller coaster designed by the great Herbert Schmeck. It was originally built for a short-lived park in Connecticut that was killed by the Great Depression, then was reconstructed at Canobie in 1936 in what seems to have been a substantially different form, bending around the Canobie parking lot in an L shape. ("Yankee Cannonball" is actually a relatively recent name; it seems to have been originally called the "Greyhound".)

Several years ago this coaster got an extensive retracking and reprofiling that left it extraordinarily smooth for a vintage wooden coaster; it rides like new. That's probably what keeps it such a popular ride. Some enthusiasts have complained that the ride became less forceful after that work, and it's certainly not the most intense coaster in the region, but on my most recent ride it was still packing some force.

The lines can get a bit long; this is probably the most popular ride in the park, and they only run one train at a time (ever since an accident some years back in which the two trains collided), which reduces the capacity.