Scenic Railway

The Save Dreamland Campaign was launched by Joyland Books in January 2003 and is now supported by several thousand people. This is the place to discuss all aspects of saving Margate's famous amusement park and its iconic , Grade II listed Scenic Railway, Britain's oldest roller coaster.

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Scenic Railway

Postby Bob » 17 Jul 2016, 15:29

The Scenic Railway and Big Wheel are now out of action
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby kevin » 17 Jul 2016, 18:52

Why?
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Bob » 18 Jul 2016, 09:27

Not really clear. Presumably broken down. Not clear nether whether they are operating today. It's about par for Dreamland though. It is very hit and miss as to what's open and when
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby mtcrc » 21 Jul 2016, 15:15

just remind me....what was saved?
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Busheyfields » 22 Jul 2016, 13:15

It is now Friday and Dreamlands website is still showing the Scenic Railway and also the big wheel as out of action. Does anyone know if it is a mechanical fault or have the administrators laid off the operating staff to trim the wage bill?
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby kevin » 25 Aug 2016, 16:01

Still not working!

"The Scenic Railway testing is now underway and we anticipate that the ride will be ready to take passengers soon. We are sorry for the wait!"

I can't imagine the Big Dipper or the Grand National being allowed to stand idle for so long!
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Bob » 26 Aug 2016, 11:29

Dreamland ImportantNotice Flashing AnimatedGif



The Scenic Railway testing is now underway and we anticipate that the ride will be ready to take passengers soon. We are sorry for the wait!



We're currently experiencing technical issues with our online payment system. Our geeks are working away to make sure that we are up and running again! We're sorry for the inconvenience, but we will be back to normal before you know it!



The amusement park will be open as usual, every day throughout the summer holiday.





Given there normal rate of working I reckon the online payments system will be working by October
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Vince, Charlie and Sam » 26 Aug 2016, 19:13

Bob wrote:

Given there normal rate of working I reckon the online payments system will be working by October


Righto Barry.
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Busheyfields » 27 Aug 2016, 13:16

Sad too see that the Scenic is still not back after being down for over a month now. I did manage to ride her a few days before she went down and was pleased that she rode as well as in the 60's (apart from the modern day health and safety fad of seat bels and lap bars).
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby aweber1us » 28 Aug 2016, 12:58

I thought Bob / Barry said it going to shut weeks ago. Now he saying it won't get fixed till Oct ? Stilling talking crap I see , perhaps their cutting the Dragons heads off as they scare small children. Yes I still remember that one Bob.
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby davidjohn » 31 Aug 2016, 02:05

I was informed by a businessman from Margate that the reason the Scenic Railway is out of action was due to maintenance on the lift hill rope being overtightened which caused overheating and burning. A specialist was called to replace the rope but that was several weeks ago. Test runs began a couple of weeks back but the ride is still not accepting paying public. Dreamland's facebook page are not giving any information as to when the Scenic will be up and running, apart from they are still testing the ride. It saddens me to think this main attraction has been out of operation for the second summer since the parks relaunch in 2015.
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Vince, Charlie and Sam » 03 Sep 2016, 21:40

davidjohn wrote:I was informed by a businessman from Margate that the reason the Scenic Railway is out of action was due to maintenance on the lift hill rope being overtightened which caused overheating and burning. A specialist was called to replace the rope but that was several weeks ago. Test runs began a couple of weeks back but the ride is still not accepting paying public. Dreamland's facebook page are not giving any information as to when the Scenic will be up and running, apart from they are still testing the ride. It saddens me to think this main attraction has been out of operation for the second summer since the parks relaunch in 2015.


I think we all accept that Dreamland is being appallingly- and deliberately- mis-managed, and has been from the word go. No serious commercial operator would need several weeks to repair their flagship ride, given that all of the mechanical parts of the Scenic Railway will be "off the shelf" items which could be delivered overnight and installed the following day. Presumably the management company has exactly the same aims as Jimmy Godden.
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Bob » 04 Sep 2016, 08:09

Vince, Charlie and Sam wrote:
davidjohn wrote:I was informed by a businessman from Margate that the reason the Scenic Railway is out of action was due to maintenance on the lift hill rope being overtightened which caused overheating and burning. A specialist was called to replace the rope but that was several weeks ago. Test runs began a couple of weeks back but the ride is still not accepting paying public. Dreamland's facebook page are not giving any information as to when the Scenic will be up and running, apart from they are still testing the ride. It saddens me to think this main attraction has been out of operation for the second summer since the parks relaunch in 2015.


I think we all accept that Dreamland is being appallingly- and deliberately- mis-managed, and has been from the word go. No serious commercial operator would need several weeks to repair their flagship ride, given that all of the mechanical parts of the Scenic Railway will be "off the shelf" items which could be delivered overnight and installed the following day. Presumably the management company has exactly the same aims as Jimmy Godden.



I would agree with you the management of Dreamland if you can even call it that is dire but you are incorrect about spares for the Scenic railway. You will not get spares off of the shelf. Many parts may have to be custom made

Why is the Scenic Railway still closed? Who knows?. Running a seaside attraction is a very tough market now people no longer really holiday in the UK. The season when people did would run from Easter to the beginning of September and the attraction would be open 10am to 10pm 7 days a week now you have a much reduced season that last barely 6 weeks

Dreamlands costs are far to high for its potential market. Focusing on Heritage rides is very expensive. The rides will be unreliable and expensive to both operate and maintain. The summer season has now finished and Dreamland has made another big loss
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby Coaster Scenery » 04 Sep 2016, 20:19

If the management company wanted the ride operational it would have been operational by now. To leave it standing for five weeks over the summer holidays in absolutely absurd and sheer incompetence. They will have lost significantly more in revenue than a new cable would have cost.

Of course an issue might be sourcing a company capable of producing such a cable considering it's likely the original manufacturer is still waiting to be paid...

The only other example of Scenic Railway in the country at Yarmouth would certainly not have been left to stand for for this long. Indeed the last time it was out of action for a comparable amount of time was when a chunk of the ride collapsed in a storm back in 1973. It took only seven weeks to rebuild it.

The will and more importantly now the revenue is simply not there. It was always going to be difficult but it's sad to see it go so badly wrong so very quickly.
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Re: Scenic Railway

Postby smilerbaker » 05 Sep 2016, 06:49

the reason its still not operational is pretty obvious, the suppliers want to be paid upfront, this will only get worse, especially now the season is all but over, if they can't afford things when money is coming in there is no hope now.
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