Joyland Books

With all new wood being built on the scenic railway will the scenic still be classed as 95 years old ? Will it still be the oldest coaster in britian ? If you remember in only fools and horses trigger was saying about his broom having 14 new handles and 14 new heads !

For the last ninety five years it has had between 15% to 20% of its wood work changed every year. It has also suffered a bad fire back in the the 1950s,the chances of it having any wood left from when it opened is slim. All the winding gear is original and i guess some of the parts from the original trains maybe used? Seeing all the old timber coming down is like losing an old friend but what has been built is out of this world.

While I can see why there is such heavy discussion over this, the Scenic has been maintained this way since day one. All you are seeing is an accelerated process of what would otherwise happen over a period of say ten years. It is just a shame about the trains which I guess will be classified as new, or a 'rebuild'.

I just want to take this time to say how impressed I am with this restoration. It looks incredible and seeing that lift hill rise up from the ashes; fantastic.

None of the timber would have been original anyway.

The Scenic Railway at Great Yarmouth has timber that is from the 80's in around 30% of the structure. The rest of it is newer with around 25% newer than five years. This newer timber has a lifespan of around 20 years which I imagine is similar to the new structure at Margate.

One of the problems now at Yarmouth is the fact that steel is no longer available in imperial sizes for use in the running rails. The flat steel available now is slightly thicker than that used on most of the rest of the track. The new steel is grinded down at one end to blend in with the old. Because the steel is thicker it is also harder to shape for the bends.

Something that rebuilding the whole structure as one will overcome here.

I've allways liked the bembom blue colour that the scenic railway had in the 80s and 90s and would like to see that colour back ! There's allso another colour that would be out of this world ! How about painting the scenic railway in alluminious yellow paint that they used to paint in tunnels in the 80s and 90s to save on electricity ! With the sun shinning on the scenic the whole day when it comes to night time the scenic will be glowing aluminious yellow or even green ! It will be stunning at night time !

I'm sure that I read it was not being painted it's staying as it is now.

Why paint it? It is going to cost a lot more money to keep repainting elements as they age than leaving it natural. Funds that could be better spent elsewhere in the park. In fact I am fairly sure I heard the Pleasure beach in Blackpool were planning to stop repainting their woodies though I can't pinpoint where I heard this.

While I had doubts, I think the exposed timbers work superbly.

I agree its never looked so nice.

yep pleasure beach is no longer painting new timbers on the grand mational or big dipper,the streak (roller coaster)will still be painted orange

Hopefully we get to see how the trains are coming along not too soon.
Would also be interesting to know whether the operator is interested in restoring the tunnel element that featured on the railway for most of the 20th century.