Riding Blue Dragon roller coaster into 2024
Urban explorers have an awkward relationship with social stability and prosperity. On the one hand, we want to see society progress and advance, but on the other hand, it’s failure and devastation that give us opportunities to keep documenting urban decay. I don’t do it for enjoyment, but more so I can look reality right in its dirty face. And I’m used to some pretty miserable stories.
I didn’t realize what I was looking at, way back in 2013, when I climbed over one fence and squeezed under another fence surrounding Seoul Children’s Grand Park, so I could visit the inoperative amusement rides during an extensive period of renovation.
It wasn’t until I read an article about next year being the Year of the Blue Dragon, which mentioned Korea’s first roller coaster, that I realized I had caught a glimpse, on one of my two traipses into the park, of Korea’s oldest roller coaster. The Blue Dragon Train (Cheongnyong Yeolcha in Korean) began operating there on May 5 (Children’s Day), 1973 and stayed in service until Nov. 20, 1983. After that, it was left on display, for decades, underneath the tracks of the newer 88 Train.
I hadn’t known this at the time, and on my first visit I barely gave it a second look. There was so much more to see, including a merry-go-round, one or two other roller coasters and a large ferris wheel.
Some of the rides and exhibits were showing their age, while others looked new and ready to go back into service.
The 88 Train would probably have given my editor an aneurysm. The front hood proudly declared the thing a “COSTER,” clearly a misspelling of “COASTER.”
Warning signs posted listed silly-sounding translations of rules, such as “NOT ALLOWED TO PREGNANT” and “NOT ALLOWED TO ELDERLY.”
As I wandered the grounds, I caught a glimpse of an old blue roller coaster, parked underneath the majestic loops of the 88 Train.
It was just sitting there on a length of track not connected to anything, out of the way of where regular visitors could get a decent look, and with no signs around at the time explaining the significance of this rust bucket. I took three quick photos of the thing and then went back to the merry-go-round.
Of all the dozens of rides I got to visit those two days, I didn’t give a second thought to that rusted old blue roller coaster. But when I read about it over a decade later in that recent article, it hit me exactly what I’d seen, what that neglected historical relic was.
With that in mind, I decided I should finally return to the park to see what became of this decaying old roller coaster.
Looking online, I found several articles decrying the state of this relic, which had been left on display exposed to the elements for years. It had received Seoul Future Heritage status in 2017, but nobody ever knows exactly what that status entails, and many articles were critical of whoever was in charge of it for letting it fall into disrepair. To be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for the fate of this thing.
I showed up after dark on Dec. 28, only to find radically different amusement park grounds compared to my last visit.
The old Blue Dragon Train is still on display, just south of the park. And it’s been restored to pretty good condition, looking fine next to its younger replacement, the 88 Train, the same one that still boasts “COSTER” painted across its hood — a fresh coat, it appears, which is also there.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this was what I needed to see to give myself some hope for the coming year.
If the Blue Dragon Train can survive all the way to 2024, so can you. If it’s to survive longer for the years to come, it needs visitors to show that they care. If you don’t want to go all the way out to the coast to see the first sunrise, go take a walk through Seoul Children’s Grand Park. Get a look at Korea’s first roller coaster on display, take pictures, upload them and tag them. Let’s rise again in 2024 with the Blue Dragon Train.
Ron Bandun is an urban explorer. He has been visiting forgotten, abandoned and forbidden spaces in Korea since 2005, documenting changes and conflicts in the urban environment.