Scenic Railway, Margate: What the Media Said

On 1 March 2002, the Scenic Railway roller coaster at Dreamland became a listed building, the first time an amusement park ride has been given heritage status. Joyland Books lead the campaign to get the ride listed. Here is what the media said.

First on the scene on 1 March was the BBC. BBC South East Today News took their cameras straight to the site within minutes of the news breaking, having first contacted Joyland Books to confirm the news. The following morning, Joyland Books editor Nick Laister was interviewed live on BBC Radio Kent's Breakfast Show, explaining how he had secured listed building status for the ride. He had submitted a report to English Heritage in 2001 which had resulted in a Grade II listing for the ride. Also on the show was Jimmy Godden, the owner of Dreamland, who described the listing as "great news". He assured listeners that the Scenic Railway is safe in his hands.

The BBC's coverage has been extensive. BBC Radio 5 Live featured an interview with Nick Laister on 4th March. Laister explained how the ride is a predecessor of the modern-day roller coaster. Whereas modern roller coasters have wheels underneath the track to prevent the train derailing, the Scenic Railway uses a brakeman, who sits on a stool and keeps the speed in check. Laister also emphasised the ride's historic importance, being one of only nine surviving wooden roller coasters out of over 120 built before 1960, and the oldest survivor by far.

Above: Dreamland from the air in the 1950s. Photograph available from the Amusement Park Photographic Library

The BBC has also featured the news extensively on BBCi, the BBC's website. "Oldest Rollercoaster given listed status", claimed the BBC News page, pointing out that the ride's wooden frame takes four months to maintain each winter. Jimmy Godden expressed delight with the news, hoping that funding will now be available for the ride's future restoration. On 4 May, BBC News marked the opening of three new record-breaking coasters in England with an interview with the Scenic Railway's brake man, John Husband. Husband has operated the Scenic Railway for 28 years, but to him it is just a job, "but better than any other job", he says. Comparing new rides at Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Fantasy Island with Dreamland's Scenic Railway, Andy Hine, Chairman of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain, expressed disappointment that all the new rides are steel coasters, believing that wooden coasters are more fun. Hine said that it was essential that something was done to make sure that the Margate Scenic Railway could survive. He was pleased that the ride can now continue to give pleasure after 80 years in service.

Sky News also reported the listing, but incorrectly stated that the Scenic Railway was Britain's first coaster. That distinction goes to the Switchback Railway at Skegness, built 35 years before the Scenic Railway.

Newspapers have also featured the news extensively. On 5 March, The Times reported the news and added that the Scenic Railway, which is the oldest operating roller coaster in Britain, attracts more than 300,000 visitors a year. The Guardian ran a full page feature on the news on 26 March 2002. Writer Iain Aitch stated that "the ride's listed status will not only ensure its own survival, but will also offer some protection to the Dreamland amusement park in an age when more static fairgrounds are closing down and the sites being redeveloped for other uses". Vanessa Toulmin, research director at the National Fairground Archive, which is based at the University of Sheffield, told Aitch that it is important to the history of modern popular entertainment that rides such as this are being preserved so that people can see them in their original site. Nick Laister told Aitch of his delight that the Scenic Railway was listed, and revealed that he is now turning his attention to a wider survey of the whole country to see whether there is anything else that is worthy of listing. The article concluded: "with luck, Laister's work will save many other memory-filled rides and the amusement parks that house them. After all, who wants superstores and bland housing developments when you can have a near-death experience, candyfloss and a snog?" The full Guardian article can be found here. Local newspapers, including the Kent Messenger, also covered the news.

Above: The Scenic Railway pictured in 1993. Photograph available from the Amusement Park Photographic Library

A number of magazines and journals gave the news prominent coverage. The 8 March edition of Planning Magazine, the Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute, featured the news on its front page, stating "Roller coaster's listing is a British first". The article stated that the ride's age and rarity were major factors in support of its listing. Dave Page (editor of thegalloper.com), who helped Nick Laister draw up the proposals to have the ride listed, welcomed the move. He said that the listing should help protect Dreamland from redevelopment: "The past few years have seen a rapid erosion of its available space and there is every reason to believe that some or all of the park will be tossed into the dustbin of history in the name of progress. Without its listed status, I consider that the future of the Scenic Railway would be in doubt." Nick Laister expressed disappointment that none of Britain's amusement park heritage had been listed before.

The news item attracted some correspondence. Stephen Butterfield from Southampton, wrote to Planning (29 March 2002), stating that the Scenic Railway was not the first listed amusement park ride. He pointed out that several of the rides at Blackpool Pleasure Beach are listed, and referred to plaques on a number of the rides indicating when the ride in question was built and details of its particular listing. Nick Laister responded (Planning, 19 April 2002), clarifying that the plaques to which Mr Butterfield referred did not constitute statutory listing, stating that "they are merely tongue-in-cheek notices which, although factually accurate, have no purpose other than drawing people onto the rides in question."

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings welcomed the news in its journal, SPAB News, describing it as an "unusual and interesting example" of a listing. Noting that the ride had been restored after fires in 1949 and 1957, SPAB News quoted from the listing itself: "Developed by John Henry Iles, who bought the European rights for the Scenic Railway from Coney Island, whence he imported some of the moving parts...The oldest surviving rollercoaster in Great Britain, and one of just two examples of a surviving Scenic Railway." The listing was also covered by Leisure Opportunities magazine.

Trade newspaper for the fairground industry, World's Fair, featured the item prominently in its 15 March 2002 edition under the headline "First Ever Listed Amusement Park Ride", using a photograph supplied from Joyland Books' Amusement Park Photographic Library. This article featured statements from both David Page and Nick Laister. The April 2002 issue of Park World, the theme park industry magazine, featured the news "Coaster gets listed status" in its Park News section, referring to the work of Joyland Books and thegalloper.com in achieving this listing. The April 2002 issue of Antique Amusements Magazine featured an extensive article about the listing, including several "Scenic Railway Factoids" and a biography of Joyland Books editor Nick Laister. "Campaigners win Grade II listing for 1920 Margate roller coaster" read the headline in the April 2002 issue of leading vintage restoration magazine Old Glory, whilst the online vintage fairground magazine thegalloper.com shouted "Stick that on your list Mr Blair!", with an article putting forward the case for listing the Scenic Railway: "Now ask yourself this", asked Dave Page, "how would you feel the next time you visited your favourite resort (with or without the kids) and found the fairground had become a Supermarket? The defence rests." The news was also covered by Airtime, the magazine of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain.

Numerous other websites covered the news. "Oldest roller coaster gains English Heritage listing", stated Ananova on 4 March 2002, the Internet news network, stating that "the grand old lady of Dreamland Fun Park in Margate, Kent, has been ridden by generations of pleasure-seekers since it was built in 1920 by John Henry Iles". The article featured an interview with Dreamland Leisure Ltd managing director Barry Moss, who admitted that it is not a white knuckle ride. He added that "senior citizens go on it and remember going on it as a child and they still have fun."

Above: An early picture of Dreamland's Scenic Railway

Amusement park heritage website Bits of the Beach described the news as "without doubt the most important piece of coaster news there will be this year". The website featured an extensive interview with Nick Laister about how he went about getting the ride listed, and what this would mean for the ride's future. Laister revealed to Bits of the Beach that it was the loss of the 1937 Texas Tornado at Frontierland, Morecambe, in 2000 that first gave him the idea of trying to get the ride listed. Laister stated "nobody had ever tried to get an amusement park ride listed before, but they meet all the necessary criteria to become a listed building." He went on to explain that the ride should now be protected from redevelopment; in practice if the owner wants to make any changes to the ride, he must apply for listed building consent. This interview is now carried exclusively by The Magic Eye website. The news was also reported in numerous other places, including leading international roller coaster websites Coaster Buzz, Coaster World, Screamscape and Rollercoaster Fans.com and fairground website Dr Chaos.