Morecambe Frontierland

Today I went on a trip to Morecambe with my parents, I took my camera with me as I usually do, but really I hadn’t been expecting much to take pictures of. As we were driving along the seafront I noticed that behind the ‘Frontierland’ fascia there was still some remnants of rides! I took my Dad to investigate, and when we got closer we realised the only thing left is the Log Flume. This was a shame… but better than nothing and since there was a lovely obliging gap in the gate it would have been rude not to head on in. From the photos you can see that there really is very little left of the park, the area around the log flume was littered with old wooden/fibreglass trains. I don’t remember seeing them as part of a ride when it was open, so if anyone has any photos or memories then please I’d love to know.

My main memories of the park were first of all the Polo Tower, then the cable car, then the ‘Texas Tornado’. As you can see the Polo Tower is still there, its in dreadful shape once you get close. My parents took me to the park, sometime when I was in high school, late 90s I would guess. They bought me a wrist band for unlimited rides, and on that particular day it also got me a free Polo Tower ride. The bit you ride in was a bit strange, quite claustrophobic but on the whole it was great. It rose slowly upwards and then stayed at the top for a while, where there were great views of the bay. The cable car was over near the log flume, I remember it took a path from the back of the park, towards the front over lots of buildings, nothing very appealing, sort of dirty, some people had dropped shoes on the roof. The ride went over the main road, and on to the sea front, where it turned around and came back. From what I could see in the park there was nothing left of the cable car, including at the far end over the road. I’m sad about that, I remember one of the cable cars had a life size plastic model of ‘Frontier Fred’ the park mascot, and as we were queueing to get on there was a bunch of three lads waiting in front. The operator made one of the lads get on the car with the plastic dog, and his friends were absolutely dying of laughter. Lastly the Texas Tornado coaster! I remember queueing to get on it, or more accurately, waiting on my own. I must have gone on that ride about 10 times in a row with my unlimited armband because each time I got off, there was no queue and I just cut through to the front again. It was a tame ride really, but good fun, lots of trees in the way as you went around. I did a bit of a research and it seems that ride was one of the first to be demolished in 1999, since no one would pay the £100,000 they wanted for it. A shame as it was a good historic roller coaster, orginally called the Cyclone and imported from Paris in the 1930s.

All in all the experience was a bit weird, hence the longer than average blog entry. Plus the fact I haven’t updated this page in forever, its been a while since I’ve taken any photographs of note which is a sad thing. I found walking around underneath the Log Flume, surrounded by broken up toy trains quite surreal and definitely creepy. I know I am a wuss about these things, I have a love/hate relationship with fallen down or disused things, I find them fascinating but they frighten the life out of me. Especially stuff thats sunken in water, so finding the sunken toy train was.. interesting. I definitely love the entrance signs we found, my Dad and I had great fun piecing them back together like a jigsaw. Its sad to think that they’ll probably soon be gone and there wont be anything left. I’m sad I didn’t come and do this longer ago, when there were more rides left standing, and more interesting things around, alas these photos are better than had I never come and it certainly brought back some great memories.