Amusement Park Rides

By Martin Easdown

A ride on a rollercoaster is the highlight of any trip to an amusement or theme park, and such attractions have been entertaining the public for well over a century. From the first mass-produced rollercoaster, the Switchback Railway, through to the giant wooden coasters of the inter-war period, seaside historian Martin Easdown uses historic postcards and photographs to chart their development and that of other amusement rides including revolving towers, aerial rides, Ferris wheels and water chutes, all of which were produced from the late Victorian era in myriad forms. Essential to the very existence of such amusement venues as Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Margate Dreamland, these much-loved rides are not so far removed from their modern-day equivalents as they might at first appear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Jul 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781782001201

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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