Blackpool fire not arson, park pledges to rebuild Grand National

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

Blackpool Pleasure Beach bosses have pledged to bring the famous Grand National twin-track wooden roller coaster back into operation despite the complete destruction of its station building. The fire, which was not started deliberately, was spotted by park security staff at around 9.30pm last Thursday night.

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Pleasure Beach, Blackpool

Does anyone know of a site with any more pictures of this incident?

I haven't found any decent photos to be honest. There were a few photos on Coasterfarce, but nothing overly decent. Work is well advanced apparently, although the damage to Alice in Wonderland is more extensive than the water damage first reported. The building with the side off in the background is Alice, with Trauma Towers to the right of that.

Blackpool were very lucky, although as someone said on my discussion list, they're a very resiliant park and proud of their heritage, so when they're going to rebuild the station, you know it will be back to it's former glory.

More pics can be found here. Sad :(

-Jim

Looks to me like it could have been far, far worse. The fire didn't get the "meat" of the ride or the station's marquee.

Too right. Anyone who has visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach will know how crammed in attractions are.

The 'aerial' picture from the Big One shows just how dense that area is - to the right, you can see Trauma Towers, and above that Alice in Wonderland. And just to the left, you can see Maxim's Flying Machines which are 100 years old this year.

Whatever way the fire went, it would have been a catastrophe. It is amazing that the fire crews managed to get the fire out so quickly. Water from Valhalla was used to put out the fire, and speaking as someone who detests Valhalla, it is good to see it has at least some use.

wat i want to know is how the fire started and when the grand national will be finish!!

I'll tell you 'wat', I don't think the park know yet, but the most likely cause is an electrical fault as apparently there is a plant room not far from where the most extensive damage is.

I don't think it will be long until the Grand National is reopen to be honest. In that respect, Blackpool is one of the best and have already started some pretty heavy duty work.

I think a lot of it will be down to how many trains are servicable. If they're able to piece together two trains from what's left, I should think the ride will be open fairly soon, but if there isn't enough cars to work with, well, there could be quite a delay I suspect.

In summery: Don't know.

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