I'm currently reading 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' by Mitch 
Albom, where the lead character is a maintenance man on a seaside 
amusement park in the United States.

The book says that many amusement parks were built by railroad companies 
  at the rural end of commuter lines to encourage people to use the 
lines at weekends.

Is this true, and have any UK railway companies done anything similar?

Mark Morton wrote:

> I'm currently reading 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' by Mitch
> Albom, where the lead character is a maintenance man on a seaside
> amusement park in the United States.
>
> The book says that many amusement parks were built by railroad companies
>   at the rural end of commuter lines to encourage people to use the
> lines at weekends.
>
> Is this true,


Not really. The big American amusement park boom around the turn of the
century was associated with the advent of the electric streetcar
(tramway), though. The new companies would invest in or build 'electric
parks' at the terminus of a suburban route in order to generate
traffic.



>and have any UK railway companies done anything similar?


Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.

Dr. Barry Worthington

In article ,
  wrote:

>
>>and have any UK railway companies done anything similar?
>
>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.


It goes back before that - Saltburn and Redcar were developed
as seaside resorts by the Stockton and Darlington (to add
some passenger traffic to a mineral line they were building
anyway).

-- 
Andy Breen ~ 	Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
		http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
		"Who dies with the most toys wins" (Gary Barnes)

shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:

> 
> Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
> development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
> Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.


Further to that, in 1932/33 the LMS built the Midland Hotel at Morecambe
- the first Art Deco hotel in Britain and apparently the only one to
have survived. There's an interesting account of this at
http://www.midlandhotel.org

-- 
John Ray, London UK.

John Ray wrote:


> shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:
> 
>>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.
> 
> 
> Further to that, in 1932/33 the LMS built the Midland Hotel at Morecambe
> - the first Art Deco hotel in Britain and apparently the only one to
> have survived. There's an interesting account of this at
> http://www.midlandhotel.org
> 


And the LMS built a holiday camp at Prestatyn - just in time to have to 
hand it over to the military in 1939.

Does a golf course count as an amusement park? I'm sure the railways
were involved in creation of some of the ones in Scotland such
as Gleneagles.

Charlie

>>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.
> 
> 
> Further to that, in 1932/33 the LMS built the Midland Hotel at Morecambe
> - the first Art Deco hotel in Britain and apparently the only one to
> have survived. There's an interesting account of this at
> http://www.midlandhotel.org


There's a nice photo of the Midland Hotel on the cover
of a current issue of a photography magazine. It's called
something like Black & White Photography.

I've also got a few photos of the hotel as it was a couple of
years ago at:

    http://www.mimas.ac.uk/~zzaascs/midland-hotel.html

Ashley.

shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:


>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.



How actively did the Midland promote Morecambe?  The Midland line was
built to Heysham where the railway company built a harbour.  The main
attraction to the Midland Railway was the value of Heysham as a port
for shipping services to Northern Ireland.

"Tony Polson"  wrote in message 
news:kn0ae1l7jm8nk61prs644pkjmsiui7ahn9@4ax.com...

> shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:
>
>>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.
>
>
> How actively did the Midland promote Morecambe?  The Midland line was
> built to Heysham where the railway company built a harbour.  The main
> attraction to the Midland Railway was the value of Heysham as a port
> for shipping services to Northern Ireland.
>
>

Not sure, but I believe they may have been responsible for the Midland 
Hotel. One of the Scottish railways was responsible for Gleneagles, I 
believe.
Brian

Tony Polson  wrote:


>shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:
>
>>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.
>
>
>How actively did the Midland promote Morecambe?  The Midland line was
>built to Heysham where the railway company built a harbour.  The main
>attraction to the Midland Railway was the value of Heysham as a port
>for shipping services to Northern Ireland.



Oops.  Got my dates wrong.  Sorry.  The ferries ran from Morecambe
Pier until Heysham Harbour was completed in 1904.

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 16:09:31 +0100, Ashley Sanders
<a.sanders@manchesterx.acy.ukz.invalid> wrote:



>There's a nice photo of the Midland Hotel on the cover
>of a current issue of a photography magazine. It's called
>something like Black & White Photography.
>
>I've also got a few photos of the hotel as it was a couple of
>years ago at:
>
>    http://www.mimas.ac.uk/~zzaascs/midland-hotel.html
>
>Ashley.



You've spelt MORECAMBE wrong.

The workmen are busy beavering away on the Midland
see  http://www.urbansplash.co.uk/us.php
Click on 'In the pipeline'

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 16:09:01 +0100, Charlie Hulme wrote:


> Does a golf course count as an amusement park?


No, people take it far too seriously.

-- 
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9632838.html
(33 021 at Eastleigh, 30 Apr 1985)

"Charlie Hulme"  wrote in message 
news:dc2vah$g4b$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk...

> John Ray wrote:
>
>> shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:
>>
>>>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>>>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>>>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.
>>
>>
>> Further to that, in 1932/33 the LMS built the Midland Hotel at Morecambe
>> - the first Art Deco hotel in Britain and apparently the only one to
>> have survived. There's an interesting account of this at
>> http://www.midlandhotel.org
>>
>
> And the LMS built a holiday camp at Prestatyn - just in time to have to 
> hand it over to the military in 1939.
>
> Does a golf course count as an amusement park? I'm sure the railways
> were involved in creation of some of the ones in Scotland such
> as Gleneagles.
>
> Charlie


Gleneagles and Turnberry were BR Hotels available on very cheap "Winterbreak 
Weekends" along with 1st. Class Travel in the early '80's.

KW

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 00:27:29 GMT, "Ken Ward" 
wrote:


>
>"Charlie Hulme"  wrote in message 
>news:dc2vah$g4b$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk...
>> John Ray wrote:
>>
>>> shrbw@abertay.ac.uk wrote:
>>>
>>>>Not amusement parks. But the old companies did actively promote the
>>>>development of seaside resorts - Morecambe (Midland Railway),
>>>>Cleethorpes (Great Central Railway)etc.
>>>
>>>
>>> Further to that, in 1932/33 the LMS built the Midland Hotel at Morecambe
>>> - the first Art Deco hotel in Britain and apparently the only one to
>>> have survived. There's an interesting account of this at
>>> http://www.midlandhotel.org
>>>
>>
>> And the LMS built a holiday camp at Prestatyn - just in time to have to 
>> hand it over to the military in 1939.
>>
>> Does a golf course count as an amusement park? I'm sure the railways
>> were involved in creation of some of the ones in Scotland such
>> as Gleneagles.
>>
>> Charlie
>
>Gleneagles and Turnberry were BR Hotels available on very cheap "Winterbreak 
>Weekends" along with 1st. Class Travel in the early '80's.
>
>KW

Indeed they were, you remember it well I see.  So many took advantage
of 1st class plus luxury hotels for very cheap prices (taking todays
per night charges those hotels charge)

Wasn't Allhallows on Sea built/subsidized/whatever by the SECR or SR?

"Martin WY"  wrote in message 
news:mr1be1deo27lva6qjevql34a322kgdsm1b@4ax.com...

>>
>>Gleneagles and Turnberry were BR Hotels available on very cheap 
>>"Winterbreak
>>Weekends" along with 1st. Class Travel in the early '80's.
>>
>>KW
> Indeed they were, you remember it well I see.  So many took advantage
> of 1st class plus luxury hotels for very cheap prices (taking todays
> per night charges those hotels charge)
>


I used to work overtime (4 hours) on Saturday morning which paid for the 
next weekends "Winterbreak Weekend" in Scotland....Brilliant.
It would have been around that time I had a one week First Class All 
Scotland RailRover for 33, with lots of overnights to sleep on.

KW

"Marksman"  wrote in message
news:1122338870.599346.318620@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Wasn't Allhallows on Sea built/subsidized/whatever by the SECR or SR?
>

SR - the branch from Stoke Junction to Allhallows wasn't built until 1932. I
don't think the SR invested any money in what they hoped would develop as a
resort, but only in the railway.

In the 1890s the Great North of Scotland Railway built a branch to Cruden
Bay and Boddam, and they built a hotel and golf course at Cruden Bay.
Neither the railway nor the hotel and golf course made them any money, and
they wished they hadn't bothered.

Peter

Mark Morton wrote:

> I'm currently reading 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' by Mitch
> Albom,


Hmm,

I.K. Brunel,
Richard Trevithick,
Nigel Gresley,
Fred Dibnah,
and Gerard Francis Gisborne Twistleton-Wickham-Fiennes.

sounds fun...

Andy Elms
hebog_basher at yahoo dot co dot uk

In message 
          Mark Morton  wrote:


> I'm currently reading 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' by Mitch 
> Albom, where the lead character is a maintenance man on a seaside 
> amusement park in the United States.
> 
> The book says that many amusement parks were built by railroad companies 
>   at the rural end of commuter lines to encourage people to use the 
> lines at weekends.
> 
> Is this true, and have any UK railway companies done anything similar?


Not quite the same; Crosville, the bus company that took over in North
Wales between the wars established an amusement park called Loggerheads
near Ruthin which they used to tempt passengers out of Liverpool on
special fare trips.  I believe it was running up to sometime in the
seventies.

Edward..

On 26 Jul 2005 05:37:24 -0700, abe22@cam.ac.uk wrote:


>
>Mark Morton wrote:
>> I'm currently reading 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' by Mitch
>> Albom,
>
>Hmm,
>
>I.K. Brunel,
>Richard Trevithick,
>Nigel Gresley,
>Fred Dibnah,
>and Gerard Francis Gisborne Twistleton-Wickham-Fiennes.
>
>sounds fun...


Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.  And in my opinion it's not
really worth reading the book to find out why.
-- 
Tessy @ nospam.com
Life is complex: it has real and imaginary parts

Mark Morton (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
:


> The book says that many amusement parks were built by railroad companies
>   at the rural end of commuter lines to encourage people to use the
> lines at weekends.
> 
> Is this true, and have any UK railway companies done anything similar?


Barry Island, built sometime around the turn of the 19th/20th century by the
Barry Railway.

The amusement park is still there, and (wonders will never ceaseh!) the
railway station is still there too, still fulfilling its original function.
-- 
A couple of questions. How do I stop the wires short-circuiting, and what's
this nylon washer for?

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