Green Dragon
I9 · First Drops
I9 · № 133/150
Green Dragon
GreenWood Family Park · GB · WGH Transportation Engineering People-powered coaster (funicular lift)
“Here, the visitor lends the hill a hand, and the woods reply.”
UNOFFICIAL · NOT PARK-ENDORSED
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Fast facts
- Green Dragon is an operating steel coaster at GreenWood Family Park in Y Felinheli, Gwynedd. coasterpedia.net
- The ride opened in 2004. greenwoodfamilypark.co.uk
- It was built by WGH Transportation Engineering. coasterpedia.net
- Its people-powered funicular lift uses the weight of visitors to raise the empty coaster train. nation.cymru
- The coaster stands 8 metres tall and reaches 30 km/h. greenwoodfamilypark.co.uk
- The layout has no inversions. greenwoodfamilypark.co.uk
- Its recorded capacity is 300 riders per hour, and its recorded build cost is $0.3 million. greenwoodfamilypark.co.uk
The story of Green Dragon
GreenWood’s railway of gravity arrived in 2004, set not upon a seafront promenade but among the Gwynedd trees near Y Felinheli. For the visitor, the novelty was plain and pleasing: before the train could run, the party itself helped hoist it into readiness. greenwoodfamilypark.co.uk· nation.cymru
WGH Transportation Engineering supplied the machine, joining coaster work with the older, practical art of the funicular. The University of Sheffield’s WGH Rides Collection records project files for the design and construction of the GreenWood Forest Park coaster, with specifications, correspondence, plans, photographs, manuals, and safety reports preserved under project W940. coasterpedia.net· sheffield.contentdm.oclc.org
The manner of travel remains the attraction’s distinction. Visitors walk, descend in the lift, and their combined weight raises the empty train; then the train is boarded for its run back through the wooded hillside. It is a modest piece of engineering with a notably civilised ambition: to make the day’s merriment partly from the visitor’s own footsteps. nation.cymru· coasterpedia.net
Two decades on, Green Dragon was still being celebrated by the park as a landmark of GreenWood’s green-tourism story. Visit Wales likewise presents GreenWood as an eco-minded North Wales attraction, with the people-powered coaster standing beside the park’s later renewable-energy rides as part of its public identity. nation.cymru· visitwales.com
Sources
- coasterpedia.net Preferred source
- greenwoodfamilypark.co.uk Acceptable source
- nation.cymru Acceptable source
- sheffield.contentdm.oclc.org Acceptable source
- visitwales.com Acceptable source
This background is AI-drafted from public sources and human-reviewed before publishing — approved 20 August 2026.