SCENIC RAILWAY MARGATE ON FIRE

[Nemesis]

I understand the only listed roller coaster is now being destroyed by fire.

Possibly arson.

And the end of Dreamland.

http://eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com/2008/04/dreamland-scenic-railway-on-fire.html


http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1473

 

[Nemesis]

Pic:

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/news/default.asp?article_id=39861

 

[Nemesis]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7335519.stm

Updates on:

http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=4

Many of us are simply devastated.

 

[ljn]

Heritage amusement park as part of a redevelopment scheme for Margate seafront?
I suspect the owners have a vision of cheep flats, maybe a supermarket, a fat wad of cash in the bank.

My Godden! This makes me sooooooooooooooooo ANGRY!

I presume the listed ride is insured and therefor the owner can get thos carpenters to work restoring and rebuilding.
That's what the area needs: more jobs for specialist trades, historians! Could even giva a job to a local designer to do the "Restoration Of" book. And then there's the website.

Second fire in 50 meters in one week.
It was also lucky that a hole was made in that Georgian terrace that blocked access to the sea from the Dreamland site. Funny how things just seem to catch fire when developers set their eyes on a site. I can't understand how it can be accepted as an advantage rather tham making the owner reinstate the terrace. He must have been insured.

I think these cowboys should get the property confiscated.

 

[ljn]

An article on the unlucky Mr Goddard and his burning period properties:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10808329138

 

[Nemesis]

The planning brief, newly adopted, has the heritage amusement park and enabling development on site. Naturally not what Waterbridge wanted...

Latest news:

http://www.joylandbooks.com/scenicrailway/news.htm


I have a dreadful idea that some of what was rescued from Pleasureland Southport may have been in the workshop.

The cinema may well be next to have an accident. That's Listed II also.

http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/building/dreamland.html

 

[Nemesis]

Calls to rebuild the Scenic Railway

Margate’s historic Scenic Railway can be rebuilt and everything should be done to ensure that happens.



That’s the message from Thanet District Council, after fire broke out in the Grade II listed structure yesterday afternoon (Monday 7 April) for the third time in its history. The Scenic Railway, which is in the famous Dreamland amusement park site on the town’s seafront, was the first amusement park ride to be listed in the country.



The Dreamland site and the Scenic Railway is privately owned and the responsibility for rebuilding the ride lies with the owners.



Planning guidance, developed by the council, working with other organisations including the Margate Renewal Partnership and the Save Dreamland Campaign, sets out that the Scenic Railway should be kept as part of an amusement based destination. This was given strong support by local people, with 92% who took part in the consultation saying that the Scenic Railway should be kept.



Council Leader, Cllr. Sandy Ezekiel, said: “The fire is a terrible blow for Margate. Many local people hold the Scenic Railway very dearly in their hearts, as our recent consultation showed, and understandably so. It’s perhaps the single most important piece of the town’s cultural heritage and has been a part of Margate for generations. We are determined that, if possible, the Scenic Railway, should be rebuilt as soon as possible and we would expect the owners to do just that. It’s a listed structure and the expectation is that, wherever possible, a listed structure should be rebuilt. Let’s not forget that in the history of the Scenic Railway, it’s been the victim of fire twice before and on both occasions, it’s been re-built. We are hopeful that can happen again this time.



“Our conservation and planning officers have a wealth of technical expertise that can be called upon by the owner if they require it and we would be happy to offer them help and advice. In the first instance, we are calling on the owners of the site to take urgent action to ensure that security at the site is stepped up, in view of what’s happened. I’m sure that local people would agree that it’s vital that this is done to safeguard what is left of the Scenic Railway today.”



ENDS

http://www.thanet.gov.uk/news/latest_press_releases/scenic_railway_fire_08-04-08.aspx

Talk is cheap of course. Action would be good.

 

[Nemesis]

Confirmed as arson.

 

[Nemesis]

BBC News:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7335985.stm

 

[Nemesis]

Pic after the fire:

http://www.joylandbooks.com/scenicrailway/index.htm

 

[Nemesis]

Looking a little more positive today - lots done yesterday, to investigate repair options,and although it won't be cheap it can be rebuilt. The saddest loss really is the trains, which were beautiful carved original examples of amusement park art.



[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]


Pressure is being brought to bear on the owners, the council is making noises about Repairs Orders, and Jacobs Engineers is to visit on Monday to assess the damage.

More news as ever on the campaign website and forum.

Appeal for funds too!

 

[Nemesis]

Also:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/coastalresorts/

 

[Flyfisher]

Appeal for funds too!

Was it not insured then?

 

[michael]

How sad

I have real fond memories of this from childhood when we used to have our family holidays in nearby Ramsgate staying at a seafront B&B called the Blue Ridge, creaky spring mattresses, a gong to announce breakfast and doors locked at 11.30 pm (wonder if its still there, I must go back) Not far from the B&B there was a theatre, more like an underground bunker called “The Granville” Where John Mann would play tunes like “The Dam Busters” film score on the organ. Happy days!
An evening trip to Margate and dreamland was the highlight of the holiday. My stomach would churn with a mixture of fear and excitement at the thought of riding the Scenic railway which I would leave until the very last ride. Remember also the “Double Wheel” a kind of two story Ferris wheel.
Being a London lad at the time, my birthday treat would be a trip to the Battersea park fun fair. An equally great place and sadly missed.

 

[Nemesis]

Was it not insured then?

Dunno. Funds are for the campaign - not the owner of Dreamland.

http://www.joylandbooks.com/scenicrailway/index.htm

If it wasn't for the Save Dreamland Campaign, there would be nothing left at all.



Thanks for that Michael. We hope it will rise again!

 

[Flyfisher]

I don't understand why there needs to be a campaign (requiring fund raising) to get the council to do its job of enforcing the repair of a listed structure, which should be paid for by the owner's insurance company. Who is it that actually issues enforcement orders? The CO?

 

[Nemesis]

A repairs order might come next week, after the fire. It's a hard thing for a council to undertake, in reality. The situation would take many, many hours of explanation. If you want it, contact Nick Laister!

No idea at all if it's insured.

Repair of Scenic is one thing - operation and a fitting setting is another.

Before that, several years of campaigning - unpaid, for love - including getting the Scenic listed, a public inquiry, and the rescue of other rides for a proposed heritage amusement park. Delegates went to the recent EH conference etc etc.

The waterchute at Rhyl rescue still requires the transport to be paid for.

 

[Nemesis]

Latest news from Nick, just posted:

http://www.joylandbooks.com/scenicrailway/news.htm

 

[Nemesis]

C20 Society Press Release

For Immediate release

8th April 2008



Margate’s listed Scenic Railway destroyed by fire

The Society was devastated to learn that a fire on Monday April 7th has destroyed Britain’s oldest roller coaster-- Margate’s impressive and historically important Scenic Railway. The C20 Society has been campaigning for the preservation of the railway since 2005.

Although currently a matter of intense local speculation, the fire is widely considered by local people to be the work of arsonists and a police investigation is now under way.

The owners of the site have long wanted to clear the site for new development but have been unable to get consent to demolish the country’s only listed wooden roller coaster. Only 20% of the structure now remains, with the fire destroying the station, the lift hill all the central portions of track and perhaps most tragically, the American-made cars, which each featured the head of a different animal.

Constructed in 1919-20 and restored after fires in both 1949 and 1957, the Scenic Railway was developed by John Henry Iles. It was a roller-coaster of tremendous historical importance, and only one coaster, at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen was known to be older – dating from 1914.

Thanet Council have pledged that if this was an arson attack, they hope criminal proceedings will follow – the Society supports this. Demolition of a listed building, by whatever means, is a crime that should carry stiff penalties, the message to developers must be clear – you cannot ‘factor in’ fines as part of the development costs—they need to be high enough to act as a meaningful deterrent.

It is yet to be decided whether or not Thanet Council will push for the re-building of the listed structure—it would be possible for them to take “enforcement action” to require this. Fire has affected the coaster before, in 1949 and in 1957, when all the timber struts were destroyed – after both incidents, it was re-built. The Society, Thanet Council and English Heritage all must now decide whether this would be the right thing to do. The cost of rebuilding, and the fact that the site would not then be available for a new development would certainly mean that no financial gain would result from this fire, but unless far more survives than currently seems to be the case, the end result would be at best an accurate replica.

We remain saddened at the loss of this spectacular piece of Twentieth Century heritage and remain deeply concerned about other buildings on the site which remain at risk – including the 1935 Dreamland Cinema which closed in November of last year.


Save Britain’s Heritage comment on Dreamland fire

“This is a tragic loss and a terrible blow to all those who have campaigned locally and nationally to protect and preserve this rare and delightful structure. The Scenic Railway was a remarkable survival and its recent listing an acknowledgement of its national significance. The people of Margate were immensely proud of the Railway and SAVE hopes that its reconstruction will be seriously considered as an option. In the meantime SAVE remains concerned for the Dreamland Cinema, another fine listed building on the site which closed last year.’

William Palin, Secretary, SAVE Britain’s Heritage



Notes for Editors

Scenic railways are a special sub-section of a general class of roller coasters. Unlike a modern steel roller coaster a scenic railway does not have wheels that wrap around the track and prevent it leaving it when it turns a sharp corner at speed. Instead a highly skilled brakeman controls the ride. The brakeman, who sat at the front of the second car in the Margate example, had to gauge the mass, and hence the potential momentum, of the moving cars and control the speed accordingly. The ‘train’ was pulled up the lift hills by a cable, which the brakeman grabbed with a lever. The Margate example, of 1920, was the oldest scenic railway remaining in the United Kingdom and one of only two – the other being at Great Yarmouth built 1932. It was also the second oldest example in the world, the oldest, in Copenhagen, is much altered. It was the world’s most complete example of a timber-structured roller coaster. It was large, 180m x 30m. The fact that it had survived on its original site since 1920, and outlived all the other rides, was testimony to its enduring appeal. It was Listed grade II 1/3/2002.



For more images or information please contact:
Jon Wright (jon.wright@c20society.org.uk) telephone 020 7250 3857
Out of hours: 07855 406718

We now know that far more of significance has survived - and EH has backed a rebuild.

 

[Nemesis]

Some evocative pictures of the Scenic, and Dreamland, before closure, with the workshop and the beautiful trains lost in the arson attacK.

A very sad loss. It can be rebuilt we hope but history gone.



[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]


Thanks to RowBot on the Save Dreamland Campaign site.



Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:50 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have some shots of the senic on my site:

http://www.dreamlandfunpark.co.uk/album05/
http://www.dreamlandfunpark.co.uk/album06/

and some good 's of the workshop area in the 2006 gallery

http://www.dreamlandfunpark.co.uk/album06/slides/PIC_0142.html
http://www.dreamlandfunpark.co.uk/album06/slides/PIC_0143.html
http://www.dreamlandfunpark.co.uk/album06/slides/PIC_0144.html


More from Coasterforce:

http://www.coasterforce.com/Photo_Galleries/p17_sectionid/109


This thanks to furie:


[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]