FOLLOWING THE END of the Second World War, the majority of amusement parks were patched up and reopened, to enjoy huge visitor numbers during the late 1940s and 1950s. Because of the shortage of materials, virtually no new large rollercoasters were built. In 1946 the scenic railway at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, was erected by John Collins using materials from the dismantled scenic railway and Mountain Caterpillar Railway formerly at Pleasureland, Southport. In 1951 Collins transferred it to Battersea Park for the Festival of Britain and, renamed the Big Dipper, it became the most popular ride at the funfair, earning Collins about £15,000 each year.
The Caterpillar, dodgems, water chute and ghost train retained their pre-war popularity and they were joined by the fairground favourites the waltzer, Octopus and Dive Bomber, which were also placed in static amusement parks. The waltzer, which remains a firm favourite today, is a fast-spinning circular ride with individual cars that were spun round on their axes by the ride operator. The Octopus, built under licence from Jack Eyerly by Lusse of Liverpool, was a circular ride that had eight arms that were pulled up and down in sequence. Around twelve examples remain in use with travelling fairgrounds. The Dive Bomber was another Eyerly ride built by Lusse; it consisted of twin cars that were mounted on a vertical rotating arm and spun on their axes in such a way that the riders were never turned upside down. The ride made its first appearance in Britain at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1939, where it remained until 1961, when it was transferred to Morecambe. The popularity of the Dive Bomber led to its construction at a number of static amusement parks after the war, including Southport Pleasureland, Margate Dreamland and Southend Kursaal. A new wooden rollercoaster, the compact Wild Mouse, using fast-running cars on a tight-twisting track, soon gained many admirers following its introduction at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1958. Subsequent examples of the ride were built in steel and were sometimes termed ‘Crazy Mouse’.
As the 1960s progressed, visitor numbers to amusement parks and the British seaside declined as people favoured other leisure facilities, and more took foreign holidays. As a result, few new rides or rollercoasters were introduced. By the 1970s, things were so bad that even such famous parks as the Southend Kursaal and Belle Vue, Manchester, were forced to close, their sites being sold for house building. High maintenance costs, and safety concerns following the death of five children on the Battersea Big Dipper in 1972, resulted in the demolition of a number of the old wooden rollercoasters. These included the figure-eight railways at Skegness, New Brighton, Rhyl and Whitley Bay, the scenic railways at Barry Island, Southend and Cleethorpes, and the Belle Vue Bobs. The pioneering Steel Stella on Clacton Pier was removed in 1973.
The waltzer has been a staple feature of many amusement parks and fairgrounds since soon after the Second World War. This example was situated at the now closed Rotunda amusement park in Folkestone.
The Dive Bomber at the Kursaal, Southend-on-Sea, seen during the 1950s. It was dismantled c. 1960, but a few examples of the ride survive, such as the one operated by Carter’s travelling steam fair.
The compact and fast Wild Mouse rollercoaster was introduced at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1958. A steel version of the ride is seen here at Margate Dreamland in the 1980s.
The famous Belle Vue complex in Manchester suffered greatly during the 1960s and 1970s, with the decline in popularity of amusement parks. The Bobs rollercoaster was demolished in 1971, and the park closed altogether ten years later.
In the United States, however, the 1970s was a period of revival in the building of wooden rollercoasters, along with the construction of the new generation of steel coasters led by the brilliant engineer Ron Toomer of the Arrow Dynamics Company. He designed the world’s first ‘corkscrew’ rollercoaster in 1975 and followed that with the ‘suspended’ rollercoaster, where the rider is strapped into the car suspended under the track. In Britain, a corkscrew was opened at Whitley Bay in 1983, whilst the loop-the-loop rollercoasters returned in steel form with the building of the Revolution at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1979, and the Looping Star at Margate Dreamland and Southport Pleasureland in the 1980s. The Warwick Revolving Tower was also resurrected during the 1970s with the opening of the Space Tower at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1974 (later moved to Morecambe and renamed the Polo Tower). A novel ride introduced to Margate Dreamland in the early 1980s was the Mary Rose, which consisted of a large passenger car in the shape of an old wooden ship that swung back and forth until it revolved through 360 degrees.
This new generation of rollercoasters led to a boom in their construction during the 1990s, when some five hundred were opened throughout the world, and a number of notable examples were built in Britain. Blackpool Pleasure Beach remained at the forefront of British amusement parks by adding one of Europe’s tallest rollercoasters, the Pepsi Max Big One, in 1994 at a cost of £13 million. The Big One joined the park’s surviving collection of historic rides, which include the Grand National, Big Dipper, Roller Coaster, River Caves, and Hiram Maxim Flying Machine. The Pleasure Beach has kept the flag flying for traditional British seaside amusement parks, the majority of which have closed since the 1970s, and continues to add innovative new rides, such as the Ice Blast, built in 1997, which catapults its riders up a steel tower at 80 mph and the dark ride Valhalla three years later.
The Revolution, opened at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1979, was Europe’s first looping rollercoaster since the loop-the-loop of the 1900s. Designed and erected by the Arrow Dynamics Company, the ride consists of a train travelling along a 200-foot track and through a loop 56 feet in diameter, before it runs backwards along the track to the start.
The Pepsi Max Big One is the tallest rollercoaster in the United Kingdom and was officially opened on 28 May 1994. Designed by Arrow Dynamics of Utah, it has 1,250 supporting piles. The train begins its descent from 235 feet above ground and can reach speeds of up to 85 mph.
The steel suspended rollercoaster Nemesis at Alton Towers was constructed in 1994. Nemesis is 2,350 feet long, with an average speed of 50 mph.
Thorpe Park’s Stealth is Europe’s second fastest rollercoaster, with a top speed of 80 mph, and, at 205 feet high, is Europe’s third tallest.
Close behind the Pleasure Beach was Britain’s new range of inland theme parks established in the 1980s, including Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Flamingoland, and Drayton Manor Park. Two of the most popular rides at Alton Towers are Nemesis and Oblivion. Nemesis, opened in 1994, is a steel suspended rollercoaster with an average speed of 50 mph, which has been voted Britain’s scariest ride. Oblivion was the world’s first rollercoaster with a vertical drop (of 87.9 degrees) when it was opened in 2001 and has a maximum speed of 70 mph. Drayton Manor Park’s Shockwave is Britain’s only steel stand-up rollercoaster, and Velocity at Flamingoland requires its customers to be strapped by the legs to a motorcycle as they speed up to 54 mph. Following its acquisition by the Tussauds Group in 1998, Thorpe Park has been transformed with the construction of four of the United Kingdom’s most terrifying coasters – Stealth (Europe’s second fastest ride), Nemesis Inferno (the world’s only inverted rollercoaster with interlocking corkscrews), Colossus (the world’s first ten-loop inversion ride), and ‘Saw – The Ride’ (which features a vertical drop of 100 degrees).
In addition to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the traditional seaside amusement park lives on at Southend’s Adventure Island, where Rage, a colourful rollercoaster, is squeezed into a restricted space. The ride has three loops and reaches a maximum speed of 43 mph.
Megafobia at the Oakwood Amusement Park, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, is, at 85 feet high, the tallest wooden rollercoaster in Europe. The ride was constructed by Coasters International in 1996 and has an average speed of 55 mph.
Rides based on bungee jumping are a recent thrill. The South Pier at Blackpool offers two such experiences in its Adrenaline Zone: Skycoaster, where the riders are dropped from a height of 120 feet; and Skyscreamer, a reverse bungee ride that hurls its riders into the air.
Competing with the rollercoasters as the ultimate amusement park thrill ride are those loosely based on bungee jumps. The Air Diver Super Booster on Brighton Pier travels from 0 to 60 mph in less than three seconds, and lifts its passengers 125 feet into the sky above the sea. Blackpool South Pier’s Adrenaline Zone includes the Skycoaster, where the riders are dropped from a height of 120 feet and swung out over the sea, and Skyscreamer, a reverse bungee ride that hurls its riders into the air at over 93 mph in less than two seconds.
The amusement park ride has come a long way since La Marcus Thompson’s Patent Gravity Switchback Railway, and the increasing thrills offered by today’s cutting-edge rides will ensure its continued popularity well into the future.
The old and new together at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The Hiram Maxim Flying Machine is the park’s oldest ride, dating from 1904, while in the background can be seen the Ice Blast from 1997, which catapults its riders 80 feet high up a steel tower.