Here's some footage of the Margate Scenic Railway fire.



And here's an on-ride video shot before it closed.

I've been trying to get some information on the recent roller coaster fire at Margate's Dreamland amusement park which consumed about 1/4 of the 7th oldest roller coaster in the world. Most of my connections with the world of British showpeople were unwilling to go on the record (quite wisely, I'd say, given the characters involved) but good old Private Eye is on the case.

From the Rotten Boroughs column:

UNLUCKY JIM

There was an air of inevitability about the fire which last week destroyed much of Margate's Scenic Railway, a grade II-listed wooden rollercoaster, once the centrepiece of Dreamland, a classic seaside amusement park which closed after 80 years in 2003.

The closure left 20 acres of seafront real estate practically deserted and ripe for development by its owner, Jimmy Godden. But the listed rollercoaster was in the middle of the site, and an independent government inspector's report in 2005 went against the supine local council and reiterated protection for it and the amusement park.

That year Godden formed the Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company with Reading-based developers Waterbridge, retaining a major stake in Dreamland.

A public "consultation" by Thanet council two years later tried yet again to float the idea of a development, coming up with an unhappy 50-50 compromise of "heritage amusement park" and the usual flats and shops.

This is not the first time Godden has experienced misfortune with his seafront developments. In 1998 his Pleasurama fun park in Ramsgate burned down in the midst of a campaign to save it from redevelopment. Fortunately on that occasion Godden had the comfort of a substantial insurance payout to soften the blow. In 2003 his Mr G arcade on Margate seafront went up in flames, but again there was consolation in that the hole it left, nicknamed "Godden's Gap" by locals, provided the perfect access road from the seafront into the Dreamland site.

When English Heritage listed the rollercoaster in 2002 Godden described it as "great news" and told the BBC it was "safe in his hands". A year later he closed Dreamland, and now more than a quarter of this historic ride lies in ashes.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, one amusement park fire may be regarded as a misfortune; three looks like carelessness.