Roller Coaster (Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach)

Roller Coaster – also known as Scenic Railway or The Scenic – is a wooden roller coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, UK. The ride was built at the park in 1932 and has remained operational. It stands and operates as the only remaining ride of its kind in the UK; and one of only eight in the world. It is one of only two remaining roller coasters where a 'brakeman' is required to ride with the train, to control its speed as there are no brakes on the track. It is the second tallest and second fastest wooden roller coaster in the UK. It is a Grade II listed building.HistoryIn 1929 Pat Collins, the owner of Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, attended the Paris Colonial Exposition where the largest attraction was a scenic railway. The Scenic Railway had been designed by German Herr Erich Heidrich of Hamburg especially for the Exposition (Heidrich was a scenic railway designer, having the previous year designed and built Montaña Suiza at a Spanish amusement park), and was operated at the Exposition by showman Hugo Hans. At the close of the Exposition, Pat Collins bought the ride for the Pleasure Beach; and he along with Harry and Edward Wadbrook shipped the components to England. They arrived in February 1932 and a team of German workmen began constructing the ride on the sands of the Pleasure Beach site. The ride opened to visitors in April 1932.Like other scenic railways of the time; the Scenic was clad in mountainous-styled plaster which hung from the sides of the wooden structure. Other scenic features like castles were constructed around parts of the ride. The ride came with five trains, each of the cars of which were made entirely of wood. New trains were built in the early 1960s and these are still in operation today.

Tags: Amusement & Theme Park