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