Scenic Railway roller coaster opens in Dreamland Margate

Delayed due to the Alton Towers crash, Scenic Railway, the UK's oldest surviving roller coaster, has finally rattled back to life

It's not the smoothest theme park ride you'll ever experience, nor the fastest. But after nine years of standing idle, the UK's oldest surviving roller coaster has finally rattled back to life once more.

The Grade II listed Scenic Railway has been the main attraction atDreamland, Margate's recently re-opened pleasure park, since it first began entertaining seaside crowds in the 1920s and its mile-long loops and curves feature fondly in the memories of every local you speak to.

But the ride's great age and wooden body belie a genuine modern-day thrill factor. As my cart clatters to the top of the first hill, its speed controlled manually by a 'brake man' who sits in the middle of the train, I try to give my nerves perspective by imagining how holidaymakers of nearly 100 years ago would have felt about the 1.9 g-force (on modern rollercoasters you'll feel upwards of 2g) we're packing as we hurtle over the edge.

It would have seemed completely mad to them," says Andrew Gall, technical director of the 'Scenic', as it's known locally. He and his team have spent over a year hand-assembling the ride, gradually replacing the old structure, which was partially destroyed in an arson attack in 2008 during the years Dreamland was closed, with over 320 tonnes of new timber held together by 20,000 bolts. It's been an almighty feat of engineering - as Dreamland CEO Eddie Kemsley says: "there is no blueprint for something like this" - only eight Scenic Railways still exist around the world, not all of them running.

The main difficulty has, inevitably, arisen from health and safety concerns. The Scenic was prevented from opening when the rest of Dreamland revealed its £28 million makeover in late June by new ride recommendations released following the Alton Towers Smiler Ride crash two weeks earlier. An automatic braking system is now in place on the Scenic just in case the brake-man loses control.

But Scenic brake-men tend to be made of tough stuff - Terrence 'Ginger' Evans, one of three former brakemen who've returned to celebrate the opening, recalls one ride during his tenure in 1965 and '66 when a man "didn't duck in time" as the train ran through a tunnel. "He came out covered in blood," he remembers, "and gave me half a crown for finding his false teeth that had fallen out."

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There are no longer tunnels to contend with, but nostalgia-trippers will be pleased that the Scenic has not lost all its authenticity. At the end of my first ride during the freezing opening morning, the train comes to a slow and dignified halt about 10 metres away from the finish and has to be pushed home by the ride helpers. "It's just the cold," they reassure us cheerily. Warm temperatures, apparently, can make the ride a whole two minutes faster. "It changes with the weather like a living thing," says Gall - "it's part of what makes it so unique."