Joyland Books

The Scenic Railway was the oldest roller coaster in the country and was, therefore, awarded grade 2* listed status. As it is now theoretically the newest roller coaster in the country, will it still maintain the listing? I do hope so as I would be quite fearful if it doesn't.

Also, what will the role of the Trust be once opened? I hope they will have some input, as they are the ones with the expert knowledge and true passion for Dreamland to succeed. Again if they are sidelined, I will be fearful.

What is the situation with the operator? I thought the intention was for Dreamland to be 'not for profit' meaning everything would be ploughed back into the park, I am very dubious an outside contracted operator would be prepared to do this.

Does anyone know?

The Scenic Railway is still the oldest roller coaster in the country and is still listed. It has just had many years of zero maintenance accelerated into one year. It could have been bulldozed and rebuilt but it wasn't. Sections were removed and replaced, one at a time, to ensure continuity and to retain its listed status.

Dreamland will be operated by a commercial organisation called Sands Heritage Ltd. The Dreamland Trust is still very much involved with Dreamland, although we will not be directly involved with its day-to-day operation. For ticket sales and information on the park, please visit http://www.dreamland.co.uk, the website operated by Sands Heritage. The Dreamland Trust will be launching its own new website soon on http://www.dreamlandtrust.org.uk.

Hi Nick

Thanks for explaining the situation, you have put my mind at rest. So very glad that it will still be listed and that the trust will still be involved. Thanks again for all your hard work over the years.

Here's the listing description, which recognizes that changes have been made over the years to the structure in order to maintain it. Remember that the wooden structure itself, which was always going to have to be repaired in order to make the ride operational, isn't the only reason for listing, as was carefully detailed and recognized at the time of upgrading:

http://list.historicengland.org.uk/resu ... id=1359602