Minecraft wiki entry for Building_a_rollercoaster, associated text: A roller coaster typically starts with a station, which requires a way to start and stop a minecart. One simple example involves placing a block on the ground where you would like your station to begin and putting a piece of plain rail on top of it. Next to that block, go down one block (to ground level) and place an inactivated piece of powered rail, so that it appears to slope down from the plain rail. Then, place either another piece of powered rail or another plain rail next to it. Put a minecart on the slope of the inactivated powered rail. While inactivated, the powered rail will hold the minecart in place against the pull of gravity.