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Meridian Tonight

PostPosted: 05 Jul 2011, 19:26
by erclairedoc
Meridian Tonight had a little piece on Dreamland this evening:

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

PostPosted: 05 Jul 2011, 20:19
by Alan
Looks like the Tesco is going ahead, but why will people visit Margate if they have a Tescos ! Dreamland and Tuner yes, But.........................

PostPosted: 06 Jul 2011, 00:11
by 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

PostPosted: 06 Jul 2011, 06:46
by 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.

PostPosted: 06 Jul 2011, 11:05
by 1234567890
porterm wrote: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.

PostPosted: 13 Jul 2011, 21:05
by 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

PostPosted: 13 Jul 2011, 21:41
by reggie
This website seems to be reasonable in respect to the first coasters

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

PostPosted: 13 Jul 2011, 23:13
by 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

PostPosted: 14 Jul 2011, 01:01
by 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.

PostPosted: 14 Jul 2011, 10:59
by 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.