Amusement Park Rides

74 Pages·2012·6.24 MB·English

by  Martin Easdown

AMUSEMENT PARK RIDES
Martin Easdown
SHIRE PUBLICATIONS
The Ferris wheel at Earl’s Court, London, was built in 1895 and was based
on the one erected by George Ferris two years earlier in Chicago. The
wheel was 300 feet high and could carry 1,200 people, but was demolished
in 1907.
CONTENTS
The Big Dipper on Blackpool Pleasure Beach was opened in the 1920s, and
is still in operation today.
INTRODUCTION
EARLY ROLLERCOASTERS
SLIDES, WATER CHUTES AND OTHER RIDES
AERIAL RIDES AND FLYING MACHINES
THE INTER-WAR PERIOD
MODERN RIDES
FURTHER READING

An aerial photograph of the Dreamland amusement park, Margate, taken in
the 1930s. Prominent in the foreground is the scenic railway, and the other
rollercoaster seen is the Racing Coaster, built in 1923. The formal gardens
and wooded area were survivors from the Hall-by-the-Sea days.
INTRODUCTION
AMUSEMENT PARKS are a combination of the frivolous and the fantastic – a
world of escape from the pressures of life. They fascinate people of all ages
through their total dedication to the pursuit of fun. The thrill of the rides is just
part of the experience: the bright lights, the various sounds and the smell of the
food stimulate all of our senses.
The static amusement park in Britain evolved from the travelling fairground at
the end of the nineteenth century, following the introduction from the United
States in the 1880s of the Switchback Railway, the first commercially produced
rollercoaster. The concurrent huge growth in the popularity of the seaside
holiday led to most amusement parks being established in coastal resorts, either
in their own right (such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach), or as part of multi-
entertainment centres (such as New Brighton Tower, or the Kursaal at Southend-
on-Sea). The continued introduction of new rides, usually from the United
States, led to a period of rapid growth for the parks through the Edwardian era
and into the inter-war period. However, following a successful period just after
the Second World War, their popularity declined in the 1960s and 1970s, when
more people were taking foreign holidays and enjoying other leisure activities,
such as watching television. Many of the parks were closed, but the arrival of a
new generation of thrill rides led to the opening of inland ‘theme parks’, easily
accessible by car, such as Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of
Adventures. Such places, and also the long-established Blackpool Pleasure
Beach (one of the few surviving seaside amusement parks), are among the most
popular visitor attractions in the United Kingdom.
Most of the rides described in this book were placed in permanent amusement
parks rather than travelling fairgrounds. Some rides were a feature of both, such
as the dodgems and the Caterpillar, and a few of the more popular examples
have been included. However, other features of the amusement park, such as the
sideshows, amusement machines, miniature railways, special exhibitions and
wall-of-death rides, are not described here. For many, the highlight of a visit to
an amusement park is a ride on a rollercoaster, the origins of which can be traced
back to ice slides and primitive wooden railways.

The Russian ice slides, as seen here at St Petersburg in 1884, were a
forerunner of the rollercoaster.
EARLY ROLLERCOASTERS
ICE SLIDES had long been a popular pastime for Russians in winter, and by the
sixteenth century slides that were lined with wood and featured slopes and
drops had been developed in Russia. Passengers rode down the slides on a block
of ice lined with wood and wool for comfort, or on a wooden box, steering it by
means of a rope. A description of one of the slides was given in the Pall Mall
Gazette on 13 January 1870:
An ice-hill is a steep slope made smooth and paved with blocks of ice down which you are
precipitated in a little wooden box, placed on rails, under the guidance of an expert skater. But the
pavement of ice to be perfect should be washed over with water, and it is of course desirable that
this wash of water should freeze.
The Russians also developed a crude wooden ride on the same principle as the
ice slides, such as the switchback-type gravity railway built in 1784 in the
Gardens of Oranienbaum in St Petersburg. The Russian royal family enjoyed
wooden rides placed in the royal parks, and on 24 November 1838 the Northern
Star and Leeds General Advertiser reported:
A Russian Court Ball. – On returning from the ball, we found the emperor’s young children, the two
grand dukes Michael and Nicholas, with their governess and preceptors, assembled in the outer
room, where a large Montagne Russe (Russian Mountain) had been erected for their amusements.
French soldiers serving in Russia during the Napoleonic Wars saw the wooden
rides and took the idea home. Similar structures to the Russian ones were erected
in the Baujon Gardens in Paris (les Promenades Aériennes) and at Belleville (les
Montagnes Russes). Both rides featured wooden cars, which could reach speeds
of up to 30 mph as they sped down a pair of parallel tracks, locked into the
grooves of the wooden guide rails, before curving to the left and right as they
reached the bottom. On 31 October 1816 Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser
reported:
A new diversion is now fashionable at Paris. – In a garden situated at the Barrière du Roule, there
have been erected what are called the Russian Mountains. These are inclined planes, to imitate the
ice-hills of Russia, and the amusement is to slide down this abrupt descent on a sledge. The rapidity
of the motion, which takes away the breath, and a noise resembling a burst of thunder, do not deter
the adventurous belles of Paris from partaking [of] this new amusement.
The Russian Mountains rides also spread to Britain, although there are few
references to them. One was erected in 1823 for a performance of Harlequin’s
Trip to Paris at Sadler’s Wells, on which the public were allowed to ride, and
another was briefly sited at the top of Newhall Hill, Birmingham, in 1832, which
was remembered in a letter to the Birmingham Daily Post on 1 March 1871:
First of all there was a stage or platform erected, in an oval shape, about six feet wide, with four
ascents to an elevation of about thirty feet, also four descents to the lowest parts of the stage, which,
I think, was about three feet from the ground; on this there was placed what answered for rails, but I
can’t recollect whether they were wood or iron. The carriage was a kind of large perambulator, to
hold two, with four small wheels and hollow tyres. The axles being made extra long, the wheels
were a foot or more from each side of the carriage. This, I presume, was to give a surer balance.
There were two flights of steps to the starting stages, one at the east and the other at the west end.
There was no steam engine used. The grand opening day came at last; and I saw men and women
start from the elevated stage, in what appeared like a gig body. Down they went; up they came;
down again, and up again – all this being seen from the outside. Well, the happy day came when a
companion and I entered the sacred Mountain ground. Up at the starting stage we soon arrived. We
were soon in the perambulator, and strapped in, and told not to be frightened, and to hold our breath.
The velocity with which we went down the descent took us nearly to the top of the ascent; but as we
neared the top, to make sure we did not run back, something caught on our carriage underneath,
which made a click-click sort of a noise, steadied us over the elevated bridge, then down we went
and up again, and might have done so all day by paying. The Russian Mountains remained on the
hill for months, then vanished, leaving nothing behind but the recollection to one who has battled
with the world, and views the past use of Old Newhall Hill with great pleasure.
Les Montagnes Russes were one of the earliest wooden rollercoaster-type
structures and featured wooden cars locked into the grooves of wooden
guide rails. Cars could reach speeds of 30 mph. This is the ride at
Belleville, France, in 1884.