Meridian Tonight

[erclairedoc]

Meridian Tonight had a little piece on Dreamland this evening:

http://www.itv.com/meridian-east/dreams ... land23189/

[Alan]

Looks like the Tesco is going ahead, but why will people visit Margate if they have a Tescos ! Dreamland and Tuner yes, But.........................

[porterm]

Another great Meridian Tonight feature I thought; well done everyone involved. I also couldn't really get that stimulated by the prospect of Margate possibly gaining Tesco City status. However, as I've just read that the supermarket's latest venture is into double glazing maybe the chain could assist Arlington House and/or the Dreamland site in any future glazing requirements. (Worth looking into maybe, if one can excuse the pun).

Martin

[Nick]

Yes, a good feature. Of course, we all know that the Scenic Railway wasn't Britain's first roller coaster (that pre-dating the Scenic by around 35 years!), but nice to see Meridian still giving the project the prominence it deserves.

[1234567890]

Another great Meridian Tonight feature I thought; well done everyone involved. I also couldn't really get that stimulated by the prospect of Margate possibly gaining Tesco City status. However, as I've just read that the supermarket's latest venture is into double glazing maybe the chain could assist Arlington House and/or the Dreamland site in any future glazing requirements. (Worth looking into maybe, if one can excuse the pun).

Martin

Most likely that Tesco will sell cheap monotonous windows, if installed would make Arlington look 10 times worse.

[porterm]

Hi all

Just whilst Nick mentioned roller coasters that pre-dated the Scenic, I always thought they were known as switchbacks, like my late Nan would always call any coaster. However, I read an item recently which referred to them as Switchblades. I'd be intrigued to know the correct original coaster name, unless they are both one of the same.

Martin

PS I know I could probably try and research this myself but I'm rather time-pressured and feeling a little lazy currently

[reggie]

This website seems to be reasonable in respect to the first coasters

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/co ... ory/start/

[porterm]

Thanks for that Reggie. I couldn't yet see a reference to the names I mentioned in my last post but I'll take a better look when I have more time.

With reference to the Russian ice sled coasters, there used to be a coaster history sign depicting this outside of Tonnerre de Zeus, the great woodie in Parc Asterix near Paris, France. However, on my recent visit back in April I noticed they'd changed their signage, although the European Coaster Club does now get a mention.

Martin

[David Ellis]

The ECC mention has pretty much been there since the ride was built.

The correct term for those early coasters were switchbacks...the train would go out, and switch tracks and return back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchback_Railway

The first complete circuit coaster actually launched in the same year as the switchback (1884), which was the Serpentine Railway at Coney Island, New York. The first switchback, also at Coney Island that year, paid for itself in just 3 weeks!

David.

[reggie]

Hi Martin,

At the bottom of the page I gave the link for is a further link as follows:-

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/co ... rica.shtml

Which starts talking about the Switchback railways.

I don't know whether the term you heard of switchblade related to the earlier ice coasters as these sounded more like they used sleighs, therefore with blades.