A park, a ridiculous dream, and a train
Cincinnati’s Coney Island was regarded as one of the country’s premier amusement parks over the decades. But there were others in a similar vein, including a place down in Salem, VA called Lakeside Amusement Park. Opening in 1920, it featured a large two million gallon swimming pool, added various rides over the years, and was family owned much of the time it existed. They even had their own John Allen wooden coaster, the Shooting Star. And a train. Sound familiar?
The similarity continues. The park was landlocked with no way to grow. Years down the road it would suffer a serious flood from nearby Masons Creek…but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
1971 saw the opening of Walt Disney World in Orlando, the second iteration of Walt’s dramatic transformation of what parks could be. Everybody wanted their own Disneyland; Coney successfully pulled this off with Kings Island. But there is a long trail of tears from park owners who tried and bit the big one.
One of these was the owner of Lakeside, who on June 26, 1971 announced not only a new, bigger theme park, but a gigantic new “themed entertainment center” situated on no less than 947 acres—312 of those for the park alone. Now, I haven’t measured it exactly, but the entire Disneyland resort in Anaheim, consisting of two theme parks, hotels, parking, and the Downtown Disney retail/dining district, is roughly 500 acres or so.
Sugartree, named after a nearby village, was to be themed after Col. William Byrd and his explorations around the area in the mid-1700s. Oh, of course, that Col. Byrd. Maybe the locals remember. But anyhow, the complex was to include a very large luxury hotel, golf course, mall, and outdoor recreation such as hiking and so forth. This concept was pretty universal at the time, with parks such as Great Adventure, Astroworld, Carowinds, Six Flags Over Texas, and others looking to do similar things (most came up short).
The park itself was unparalleled. And totally unrealistic. A 600’ tall observation tower—with glass-enclosed restaurant at the top. A three-track racing coaster. And of course, a narrow gauge railroad. All for about $30 million.
Naturally, none of this came to pass. Lakeside would soldier onward, maintaining its beloved local status. The flood in 1985 nearly did it in, but everything was back up and running for ’86. That year, though, an employee was struck and killed by the coaster while trimming the grass around the structure. That was that. Suffering from declining attendance, the tragedy, and the fact that the land was probably worth more as real estate development (a common theme) the park closed in October. And the train?
If you’ve been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in recent years, you might have caught a ride on the Alpen Express, the park’s third train. Green #17 joined Balmoral Castle and Der Hochbeinige, which had been steaming around the park since it opened in 1975. Those two were custom configured for Busch by Crown, the manufacturer. #17 was also a Crown 36” gauge locomotive, but started life a bit earlier in 1972…for Lakeside. She would operate starting around ’73 or ’74 (somebody out there let me know) until the park closed for good.
After sitting alongside the parking lot for awhile, #17 and her consist (coaches) were shipped to Emerald Point in Greensboro, NC. That place has been a water park forever, but at one point in time had bigger aspirations in life. That never happened, and eventually Busch took ownership, had her rebuilt by Tweetsie Railroad’s superb shops, and she joined the team in the Old Country in 1997.
Top photo shows #17 neglected alongside a Virginia highway. And yes, the name on the cab is Big Lick (original name for Roanoke). I have no idea who took the photo, so if you're the owner let me know.
Bottom image is #17 running proud at Busch Gardens. Photo by Tom Benton.
The Sugartree property, far from being the Disney World of Western Virginia, is now occupied by a motor sports park. And the train bridges at Lakeside are still there; you just have to dodge golf balls as you walk the property.
If only the Sugartree folks had Dennis Speigel there to set them straight, they would’ve learned early on there was no hope of such a ridiculous scheme. But he was kinda busy building Kings Dominion on the other side of the state.
For the full(er) story behind Sugartree (including where the lumber for KD's Rebel Yell coaster came from) see Dale Brumfield's article.
