Dreamland's Scenic Railway closes for good after more than a century

Scenics are no longer considered thrill machines but it breaks my heart when one closes. They’re every bit an important part of amusement park history.

Looks like a fun classic ride.

That looks like a ton more fun than what I was expecting.

Does it have a dude with a handbrake, like the one in Tivoli Gardens? I rode that a few years ago, and it was a bit unnerving.

Quite a bit speedier than Leap the Dips

15 mph can be terrifying when the track is buckling and sagging from lack of maintenance.

Jeff:

Does it have a dude with a handbrake, like the one in Tivoli Gardens? I rode that a few years ago, and it was a bit unnerving.

It does, yes.

There's a long history here. The ride was damaged by fire in 2008 and the original trains were destroyed. It reopened in 2015 after what was to all intents and purposes a ground up rebuild. Unfortunately a derailment in August 2024 caused track damage and it never reopened after that.

I'm saddened to see it go. It wasn't big, it wasn't fast, but it was historical.

This is an interesting example of where you have a ride that is Grade II* listed by Historic England.

Therefore, the park are in a slightly odd position where they are opting not to operate the ride, but can't really remove the structure or change it, even if they wanted to.

The whole Dreamland Project has been a complete mess from start to finish. There were a lot of good intentions to create a heritage park using rides removed primarily from Pleasureland and also some from Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The website detailing this plan is here.

Irrespective, that didn't happen and the park went into council ownership. There were efforts towards a refurbishment and a lot was achieved - with a focus on a select few rides and a concert venue. This was coupled with a bizarre financing arrangement and an operator that lasted 6 months before entering administration with some of the better/larger rides being sold.

It's been a struggle ... fair play to them for trying but seaside parks in the UK have taken an absolute hammering over the past few years - so for them to succeed always felt like a long shot.