Is the Scenic Railway ever going to be re-built?

[EAS]

The upgrading of the Scenic listing from II to II* is an important one in applying for grants too.

Makes it a much more rare structure :0)

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

Hopefully restoration will start on the Scenic Railway sometime in 2011.

[porterm]

Hi Vince et al- there's only about 4 months to play with now if you want to see some activity in this financial year, and we do have that little CPO issue on the near horizon to overcome first. I always like to think I'm the eternal optimist, however even I feel that some action on the Scenic this year might just be a little unlikely sadly. I'd obviously be more than happy to be proved wrong though.

Meantime, I found a really interesting new website recently which I hope never has to include Margate's treasured attraction anytime soon; http://lostukcoasters.co.uk/

I'd like to know what people think of it, and does anyone know its creator; a P Gray?

Martin

PS Did the Dippers and Dunkers event take place this Summer as I'm quite sure I read something about it on a recent Dreamland Trust newsletter?

[reggie]

Good idea for a website. I like the recreation of the rollercoasters in a simulation.

It's sad to see so many fine rollercoasters being lost. I think the campaign to save the scenic is fantastic.

[porterm]

Many thanks for your comments Reggie. Yes, I think the website I mentioned is quite unique, although I suppose it's always been possible to create similar things with Roller Coaster Tycoon (not that I've ever used that).

My main regret was never bothering to ride Morecambe's former Texas Tornado back on my only ever visit in 1987. Just proves that you should never miss an opportunity, even if the weather's not perfect. I believe it used to run backwards facing seats in some positions (I've seen footage on YouTube before). I've only ever seen US woodies do that before.

Martin

[David Ellis]

I rode it backwards before (also note that the Cyclone at Southport had a backwards facing car they used occasionally).

Sadly the one time I visited Morecambe it was raining and so I didn't film the experience...shortly after the ride was bulldozed. It was a great ride and one of the few in the UK that the great Harry Traver had some involvement in.

David.

[porterm]

Hi David - yes, it looked like a great ride, somewhat hidden from the roadside which gave me a rather unimpressive feeling the day I drove to the park. It looked like it could have done with some TLC from a video I've seen on YouTube before, but it definitely appeared to be a fun ride, especially with backward facing opportunities.

I've only ever got to ride Magic Mountain's woodie, Colossus (CA, USA), two or three times backwards at Halloween some years back when they put the old Psyclone trains on its track. It was certainly a rather weird experience in my opinion, but glad I did it.

It's very sad to think how many woodies we've lost in the UK in recent years, and we hardly had a great inventory of them to begin with.

Martin

PS Here's that classic 1996 Frontierland Texas Tornado link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-FNsliTLQQ

[vann98]

The Texas Tornado
The Runaway Coaster
The Cyclone <3

Such a shame. The UK is really starting to lack wooden coasters. New modern day ones are good but they can't beat the originals in my opinion.

After seeing pictures of the burnt remains of the scenic it made me think, we cant loose another woodie. Seeing pictures of it deteriorating put a tear to my eye. It needs alot of work done to it to bring it back to how it once was but at the end of the day, I think it will be worth it. I mean I just can't imagine anything else taking the spot of the Scenic.

Good luck and thank you to all those who are responsible for the rebuild. Hope to see work on it within the next year.

[kevinashe]

looking at things in a positive light!!! although we have lost some fantastic woodies their blueprints do survive and if places like dreamland are a success then it may lead to some being rebuilt in the future.