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OCEAN BEACH MEMOIRS: PAGE 2
by Paul Beesley
 Gallery: Added August 2007

Image: Paul Beesley		 Walking towards the fair the first ride you notice is the Pinfari Jetstream coaster - the first of its type in the UK.

 

Image: Paul Beesley		 The Jetstream sits quietly as if it’s just another day. The cars are still in the station and the ride still advertises its fares.

A few months earlier I arrived at the fair to experience the ride go through a stall on the second hill.

Three ride operators jumped on the track and walked up the hill to push it over the crest and it took them about 30 minutes in the end but they got it over and the ride was open to the public within the hour.

You shouldn’t laugh at situations like this but watching three guys pushing a coaster is quite funny, although I'm sure if you're 40 feet or so above ground trying to push a heavy coaster train its not that much fun.

Image: Paul Beesley		 The large open tarmac area next to Jetstream is where the go karts once whizzed past.

 

 

Image: Paul Beesley		 All signs of this have gone - the tyres, borders and the fences people used to lean on have all been cleared.

I always thought the go-kart track was bigger for some reason.

 

Image: Paul Beesley		 In the distance a juvenile train sits idle on its tracks possibly waiting to be removed.

Image: Paul Beesley		 Further ahead, the Pepsi Looping Coaster is all parked up  with one train in the station and another just inches from climbing the lift hill.

In the centre of the park you can clearly see the Waltzers, Matterhorn and a couple of other kiddie rides like the Nessie coaster still in position.

Earlier in the year they had a Helter Skelter near the Jetstream.

This has now sadly been removed.

 

Image: Paul Beesley
I would have expected the flat rides, especially rides like the kiddies Big Wheel to be placed on a trailer and towed away as soon as possible to avoid the risk of vandalism or theft had the park been closing.

The location of the Runaway Train Ride is clear - the ride has been demolished and scrapped.

In some of the rubble I could see various fibreglass parts and panels of the cars that have been smashed up.

The steel tubing stacked around the ride location is the only thing that’s left of it - the rest has gone for scrap.

The Fun House located on the back of a wagons trailer is still in its same location near the entrance.

Image: Paul Beesley		 The front signage of the Ghost Train has gone and all that remains is now just wooden slats on the fascia.

It looks a mess.

A lone red pick-up stands abandoned in the centre of the park as if to give the impression that people are about.

We walked back around to the rear of the fair onto the car park and noticed they had forgotten to cover the main entrance at the rear with fencing, so it was completely open.

 

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