Blue Flyer rollercoaster (originally the Zipper Dipper)

A children’s rollercoaster of 1934 by the Dayton Fun House and Riding Device and Manufacturing Company, overseen by Charles Paige, with a C21 station.

MATERIALS: timber with metal fixings and station fittings.

PLAN: orientated broadly N-S, on an elongated, reverse L-shaped loop with the station on the W side and an overall length of 1,099ft.

DESCRIPTION: the station superstructure comprises a concrete and steel frame, faced with textured metal panels stacked in sinuous layers. From the station the lift hill rises to the N to a height of c15ft, at which it turns 180 degrees to the right before descending through three gentle dips and crests. It then turns to the right again, entering a tunnel through the building that formerly housed the Space Invader steel rollercoaster, rising and turning through 270 degrees before exiting and turning 90 degrees to the left and gently descending to the station.

The track sits atop two parallel vertical grids of timber, whose varying height causes the track to rise and fall. The two grids are connected and braced by horizontal timbers, and diagonal bracing runs between the grids and between the timbers of each grid. The rails comprise layered timber boards, along the top of which is fixed a shallow metal strip on which the running wheels rest. Similar strips run along the inner face for the side-friction wheels. The motor is housed in a wooden hut between the lift hill and the first descent.

MAPPING NOTE: some sections of the ride pass beneath/through other structures; these sections are described in the text above and are included in the listing, but have not been mapped.

• Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the aforementioned items are not of special architectural or historic interest.