Dreamland coaster destoyed in suspicious fire!

The BBC reported today that up to 80 firefighters battled a blaze that severely damaged a listed roller coaster at the former Dreamland amusement park in Kent, England.

Police said they were treating the fire, which broke out on Monday afternoon at the Scenic Railway at Margate, as suspicious. Kent Fire and Rescue Service had 12 appliances at the scene and a pall of black smoke hung over the town. Fire investigation officers will enter the site when it is declared safe.



BBC Radio Kent reporter David Linington said the wooden roller coaster had collapsed.

"It is devastating," said Thanet District Council leader Sandy Ezekiel. "It is tragic - I used to go on it when I was a kid. To see it like this is heartbreaking."

The Grade II listed roller coaster is one of the oldest of its kind left in the world.



"It looks like a third of the Scenic Railway has been completely lost and all the carriages appear to have gone, if they were in the building next door which went up," said Ezekiel. When I arrived, the flames were 40-50 feet-high from the top of the ride. The fire brigade did a tremendous job in bringing it under control very quickly. The fire is now out and they are dampening down."

The future of the Dreamland site, which opened in 1920, is uncertain but campaigners and planners want it to become a heritage amusement park as part of a redevelopment scheme forMargate seafront.



More news as this story develops.

HOLY S**T!!! [:O] [xx(]

DAMN that sucks[V][V]

Why would some ass pull a terrorist move on a roller coaster?! It was so arson.

i agree... i just wanna make a shout out to whatever a**hole did this:

[pdie][pdie][pdie][pdie][pdie]
(from all your friends on coastercrazy!!!)

He/She did it because the person was too tall to ride...probably.

Yeah it is tragic.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Burn baby burn!

LOL, DAMN! That would've made a hell of a sight...

poor coaster.
no coaster should have to go that way. :[

^It's not a living object...

I agree with Gerst. That would be hella sweet to see standing 50 ft away.

yeah, just saying.... not everything has to be so serious, haha.
but yeah that would be crazy to see.
i want to see aftermath pics.

[Turbo]

RRollergod Posted - 04/07/2008 : 8:40:19 PM
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Why would some ass pull a terrorist move on a roller coaster?!

EElover2 Posted - 04/07/2008 : 9:18:29 PM
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He/She did it because the person was too tall to ride...probably.

I agree with both of these statements. That sucks[V][V][V]

[gouldy]

chavs are rubbish

[Oscar]

hmmm someone must have been cold and started a bonfire. I blame the UK for having crappy weather. You guys should like blow yourselves up or something.

yeah i bet it was chavs, they suck...

That actually sucks!!!! [:(] I hate it when old rides are destroyed!

[Dirk_Ermen]

burn the foo who lightened that coaster!

this is terroable news indeed. and to think i only rode it last summer.

i very much hope it does become a heretige site and it is restored as it should be

A sad day indeed! There goes one of the 9 remaining scenic railways in the world. It's sad when considering that hundreds of these used to grace the earth.

The aftermath ...

^Holy... there's a huge gap. That's interesting to see.




And gazag, nothing against you at all, but this just gave me a little laugh

terroable

That's a pretty bitchn' way to spell that, lol.

And of course ... YouTube to the rescue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjUp8y1W ... re=related

^Nice! That's a sweet flame.

poor coaster.
no coaster should have to go that way. :[

Except Mean Streak.

About 25% of the footprint was damaged. It's possible to rebuild it, but seeing as Dreamland already was under a lot of pressure, I'm not sure its gonna happen. Investors have been hanging over the site for years, wanting to buy a mall or something.