Major fire on the Scenic Railway 7th Apr. Suspected arson.

[smilerbaker]

Compulsory Purchase is the only solution I can see. The reinstatement of the scenic railway has to happen wether the structure is too damaged to be listed or not, it is still of historic importance.

If the structure was insured, G. should be made to repair it, If not he should be made to reinstate it at hios own expense and if he can't afford it, then its back to us, the people through.

The track record of the owner and his buildings catching fire is too bad to be coincidental. I just hope what people say about corruption in Margate isn't as bad as they say and that the administration will ensure that Margate gets its' heritage amusement park and not some anonymous shopping centre and housing estate.

To let this go would be to make "listing" buildings a useless excersize.

I wonder how Australia and Denmark keep their scenic railways?

Accident or not, this is a disgrace.

unfortunatly the corruption in thanet distict council is worse then is posted on here, having grown up in margate, most of my family are still in / around the area and having dealings with quite a few business men there, the place stinks. At one time most of the council was made up of building company owners, guess who got all the contracts?

Just look at the list of companies that tried to invest in thanet, and what happened? this goes back decades eg Butlins.

No big companies will go near thanet with a barge pole, once pfizers has had enough the whole island is screwed

[Nick]

I have noticed on a number of blog sites (and to a much lesser extent this site) that accusations are being made suggesting who may or may not be involved in the cause of the fire. At the moment, a police investigation as to the cause is underway and it is not helpful to make personal accusations. Please could everyone posting on this site avoid making any sort of accusations as to who may be involved.

I have taken the (unusual) step of editing some posts to remove any potentially offending accusations.

[EAS]

SAVE has been informed and the 20th Century Society. The Scenic and Dreamland have been on SAVE's radar for quite some time, c20th featured the Scenic as a 'building of the month' on its website and is also the national amenity society which covers this period in historic buildings.

http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/build ... mland.html

What is left needs to be now properly conserved and a careful repair operation carried out. The trains are a sad loss but they can be remade and the track repaired!

[porf]

Title changed at Nick's request.

[EAS]

Yes so I see... but the previous one named no names...

[thanet26294]

I am ex fire brigade and looking at the photos of it burning it looks like an accelerant has been poured on the tracks, I would not have expected it to burn like that after the snow and rain we have had

[EAS]

Yes, it seems to have all gone up very rapidly, considering the weather we have had, and it will be interesting to hear what the police have to say. Finding any culprit will be the hard part - I thought that the site had security on it...

[thanet26294]

I could see the smoke from Westgate, when I first saw it I thought a plane had crashed because it looked just like when the fire training school at manston have a burn. Either those timbers were heavily soaked in wood preserver or there was an awful lot of something to cause that amount of black smoke

[Hairy Vince]

Some Thoughts

1 - Clearly if it is proven to be arson, I hope the police and fire authorities do everything they can to make sure justice is served

2 - This has bought a few new people into the campaign - so welcome to them

3 - As one or two people have mentioned, in some sad senses this is not a huge surprise

4 - Interesting to hear the council say they will do whatever it takes to rebuild - need to make sure we hold them to that (possibly a public question to the next full council)

5 - Volunteering etc, as always I am happy to do whatever I can to help and assist in this matter. Clearly, I will be guided by more learned colleagues on the technical matters of what I would be of use. I think fundraising now would be a sensible step forward.

6 - We are not defeated; just remember this. If we fight we may not win, if we stop fighting we are guaranteed to lose!

[uvegotmale2000]

i do feel that some sort of CCTV should be installed at the scenic railway,for its protection.

i remember the sad events of the old brighton pier where it took 2 arson fires to bring that building down.

so i wouldnt be surprised that someone may attempt to burn down the remaining 75% of the scenic.the structure needs added protection now.i hope between Waterbridge/council some sort of cctv etc can be fitted to prevent anything else happening

[paulcowper]

Just so you know incase you dont, It managed to hit some of the national papers, well at least the Daily Mirror. Page 8. Titled... Roller Toaster, no mention of the campaign in there tho

[miniman]

Just joined up today having seen the story on the BBC News. Many years (about 20 I guess) since I last rode the Scenic Railway but nonetheless very sad to see it in that state.

Anyway, schoolboy question and apologies if it's been done to death elsewhere, but - what is preferable, no Scenic Railway at all, or restored Scenic Railway somewhere other than Dreamland? I suppose what I am saying is, perhaps Tussauds (or whoever currently owns Alton Towers et al) could be approached to purchase what is left and put it back together, albeit on a different site. Maybe even a different site in Margate. If the current owner is so hell-bent on developing the current location, is it better to save what is left of the rides? Perhaps an unwelcome view on a site called "Save Dreamland" so sorry if any offence caused!

[cliffc]

I understand JG is in Marbella.

The other site woners have e-mailed Nick according to a post above.

Hi

Well thats a good alibi then

[smilerbaker]

Just joined up today having seen the story on the BBC News. Many years (about 20 I guess) since I last rode the Scenic Railway but nonetheless very sad to see it in that state.

Anyway, schoolboy question and apologies if it's been done to death elsewhere, but - what is preferable, no Scenic Railway at all, or restored Scenic Railway somewhere other than Dreamland? I suppose what I am saying is, perhaps Tussauds (or whoever currently owns Alton Towers et al) could be approached to purchase what is left and put it back together, albeit on a different site. Maybe even a different site in Margate. If the current owner is so hell-bent on developing the current location, is it better to save what is left of the rides? Perhaps an unwelcome view on a site called "Save Dreamland" so sorry if any offence caused!

Hi miniman

[CW]

Have there been any official statements issued yet from The Owners, The Police or TDC?