1912
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2021
View from ”Linnanmäki” in 1912. Who would have thought at that time that in this place 39 years later there would be one of the biggest roller coasters in Europe?
Photo: Signe Brander / Helsinki City Museum
After World War II, Children's Day, a charity event with circus performances, raffles and carousels, was revived in Finland. Soon, there was a desire to move from organizing individual events to a more permanent form, which is when the idea of establishing a permanent amusement park in Helsinki was born. Help was sought from both Sweden and Denmark, which had long traditions of operating amusement parks.
After several different plans, it was decided to place the amusement park on Vesilinnanmäki, which at the time was largely a rocky wasteland further away from central Helsinki. The hill got its name from the two water towers, or water castles, located on it (Vesilinnanmäki literally translates to "Water Castle's Hill"). In April 1950, the hammers started banging, and the construction of the amusement park progressed with the resources available in Finland at the time. The rental period of the land owned by the city was initially short, and everything was thought to be temporary. The Danes brought amusement rides and games to the park, which were almost non-existent in Finland at the time.
The name of the amusement park was considered for a long time. Children's Day's executive director Einari Haltiavuori decided the day before the opening that the amusement park will be called Linnanmäki, in accordance with the name of the area of the amusement park.
The opening of Linnanmäki was celebrated on Saturday May 27, 1950. Although the amusement park resembled a hastily built tent village, all the familiar parts of an amusement park – rides, games, performers, kiosks – were already present at that time. From that moment on, the amusement park started to develop, and it also led to the construction of Vuoristorata the following year.
In the picture, Linnanmäki is being built in the spring of 1950.
Photo: The Finnish Museum of Photography
The father of Vuoristorata is master carpenter Valdemar Lebech (1884–1975) from Copenhagen’s Tivoli. Originally from Vejle in southern Denmark, Lebech started working at Tivoli as a carpenter in 1906, when he was involved in building the new entrance to the amusement park. During the following years, he participated in the construction of several amusement rides and was in charge of the construction of Tivoli's legendary Rutschebanen roller coaster, which opened in 1914. Later, he also led the construction of wooden roller coasters in Liseberg, Sweden (Bergbanen, 1923) and Bakken, Denmark (Rutschebanen, 1932).
In the fall of 1950, Lebech arrived at Linnanmäki and proposed to build a wooden roller coaster in the amusement park. The management of the park got excited about the idea of getting a big attraction with the 1952 Summer Olympics in mind. The roller coaster was wanted to be in use already the following summer, so construction had to start immediately. Lebech invited several experts from Denmark, who had been building previous roller coasters with him. Lebech himself led the construction of Vuoristorata.
After Vuoristorata's construction, Lebech remained in contact with Linnanmäki and was consulted e.g. during the planning phase of the legendary funhouse Vekkula in the summer of 1960. At that time, Lebech was also involved in the activities of the amusement park organization NAAPPB (now IAAPA), and he was a well-known man among the roller coaster builders and amusement parks all the way to the United States.
In the photo, Vuoristorata is being built in the spring of 1951. From left: constructor Madsen, representative of the sawmill, Valdemar Lebech, Madsen junior, Knud Lebech (Valdemar's son) and Svend Jarlstrøm. Also visible is the water tower guard's cabin, which was demolished to make space for Vuoristorata.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
An important person behind Vuoristorata is also Danish Svend Jarlstrøm. In the 1940s, he had a company in Aalborg that built slot machines. Jarlstrøm also rented out slot machines to the local Karolinelund amusement park.
Those who were looking for a permanent amusement park in Helsinki turned their eyes to Denmark, because in Finland there was practically no experience in running a permanent amusement park, but Denmark already had hundreds of years of such tradition at that time. In the spring of 1950, Jarlstrøm arrived in Helsinki to help establish Linnanmäki. He also brought some amusement rides from Denmark, because they were practically no rides available in Finland. In addition, wheel of fortune, a shooting game and 45 slot machines were imported from Denmark. At that time, Jarlstrøm owned almost all of Linnanmäki's rides and slot machines, from which he received 75% of the profits.
In the fall of 1950, planning began for the construction of the wooden roller coaster at Linnanmäki. Jarlstrøm agreed with Linnanmäki's management that Vuoristorata had to be in the park for the 1952 Olympic summer, but Jarlstrøm himself was unable to finance its construction. He suggested that the Central Union of Child Welfare lends him the necessary money and that the loan is covered by the Central Union receiving half of Vuoristorata's revenue.
It was difficult for Jarlstrøm to estimate what Vuoristorata would cost. He finally loaned 25 million Finnish marks from the Central Union of Child Welfare for the construction of Vuoristorata. The loan was guaranteed by Valdemar Lebech and Volmer Lind, the manager of the Karolinelund fairground. After these agreements were closed, Lebech made a contract for the construction of Vuoristorata. According to the agreement, the ride was to open on Friday, May 11, 1951, the opening day of Linnanmäki's season. Vuoristorata would remain in Jarlstrøm's ownership, but the Central Union of Child Welfare was given an option to redeem the ride within three years of its opening.
Vuoristorata eventually remained in Jarlstrøm's ownership until 1959, when he sold it to the Children's Day Foundation. After this, Jarlstrøm settled in Copenhagen and in 1963 he founded a company called Dansk Automatudlejning, which imported jukeboxes from Germany.
In the photo, Jarlstrøm poses at Vuoristorata in the mid-1950s.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
Valdemar Lebech provided Linnanmäki with the drawings of Rutschebanen roller coaster of the Danish Bakken amusement park, according to which Vuoristorata was built. The length was increased by about 100 meters (328 ft) to make Vuoristorata the largest roller coaster in the Nordic countries at the time, 960 meters long (3,150 ft) and 23 meters high (75.5 ft).
Irish engineer Walther Queenland was responsible for the design, and the original drawings were drawn by F.J. Bird from Essex, England. Ernst Milne and Jurgen Adler-Nissen made the modified technical drawings for Vuoristorata. The first drawings were delivered in December 1950, and continued to be obtained gradually as the construction continued. There were more than 150 sheets of drawings in total. The drawings submitted to the Helsinki Building Inspection Agency are dated May 22, 1951, when the construction of Vuoristorata was already well underway. The agency did not confirm the drawings until July 14, 1951, when Vuoristorata had already been opened to the public. The microfilm copies of the drawings are stored in the agency's archives.
The trains were drawn by Bird too, and the drawings are dated October 1931. At the top of the drawings is written "Bjaergbanen Bakken", as the trains were built directly according to the drawings of the Bakken roller coaster. For the construction of the roller coaster trains, Linnanmäki was also supplied with drawings made by the Danish machine shop Vølund, where the dimensions, unlike Bird's drawings, were in millimeters. Vølund had manufactured the original Bakken trains in the spring of 1932. The original drawings of the trains are stored in Linnanmäki's archive.
The spring of 1951 was a time of rapid construction. Vuoristorata was originally scheduled to open on the opening day of the amusement park on May 11, 1951, but the schedule was way too tight. There was a severe shortage of supplies in post-war Finland. The timber used for Vuoristorata was delivered from Korvenranta sawmill in Järvelä, Finland. It took a total of 620 solid cubic meters of timber to build the track and the supporting structure. In order for the construction to run smoothly, the trucks always left Järvelä the night before, so that the timber was ready in Helsinki at seven o'clock in the morning. As a thank you for the contract, Linnanmäki bought a milling machine for the sawmill, which is still in Järvelä today.
The trains of Vuoristorata were manufactured by Is-Te Oy, an engineering workshop that was based in Helsinki, which had previously manufactured equipment related to civil defence. Laite Oy built the depot and supplied metal parts. The electric motor pulling the lift hill's cable was purchased used, and the gearbox was ordered from Sweden in January 1951.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
The builders of Vuoristorata in the photo at the topping off on June 11, 1951. In addition to the Danes who came with Lebech, Vuoristorata was built by Linnanmäki’s own men and foreign workers e.g. from Austria.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
Vuoristorata's topping off ceremony was a significant event, to which not only the builders and their families, but also notables were invited. Guests were offered e.g. sandwiches and pilsner. Speeches were made by Bo Ekelund, chief of staff; Valdemar Lebech, leader of the roller coaster project; and mr. Madsen, a Danish constructor. There were also musical performances at the party.
In the photo, on the left side of the table are fire chief Leo Pesonen, mayor Eero Rydman, and Svend Jarlstrøm.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
The opening of Vuoristorata was celebrated on Friday, July 13, 1951 at 4 pm. Deputy mayor Erik von Frenckell and executive director of Children’s Day Einari Haltiavuori were amongst the riders in the first train. Vuoristorata was open to the public on the opening day from 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm, and a total of 3,400 people visited Vuoristorata on the first day. Through the weekend, the then-popular American singing group Delta Rhythm Boys performed at Linnanmäki.
On Saturday, July 14, 1951, Linnanmäki advertised the program of the opening weekend of Vuoristorata in Helsingin Sanomat, the local newspaper.
On July 6, 1951, Linnanmäki placed a job advertisement in the local newspaper, which stated that "we are hiring men who are 20 to 35 years old, proficient in both domestic languages [Finnish and Swedish] and in good physical condition, as the roller coaster drivers". The next day, a group of former pilots came to Linnanmäki's office, and they were hired by chief of staff Bo Ekelund as the brakemen for the first summer.
In the picture are the brakemen of the summer 1951.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
The first summer of 1951 was a success for Vuoristorata, visited by a total of 168,642 customers during the season. At the meeting of the Children's Day organizing committee on September 13, 1951, it was stated: "The roller coaster, which the committee was very skeptical about in last winter's meetings, has exceeded even the highest expectations. Only after the roller coaster was completed has Linnanmäki's reputation risen to the top."
In the photo is Vuoristorata in the evening in 1952. The famous lights – of which there are about 3,000 in total – have been in place since the beginning.
Photo: Monifoto / Helsinki City Museum
Vuoristorata and Linnanmäki during the Helsinki Summer Olympics in July 1952.
During the Olympics, people were attracted to Linnanmäki, but in the end the goal was missed. Despite that, in addition to Vuoristorata, domestic amusement park visitors had other experiences on offer: Finland's first hamburgers were sold at the amusement park in July 1952.
Photo: Pekka Kyytinen / Finnish Heritage Agency
The Olympic summer was ultimately a great disappointment for Linnanmäki, and it caused economic pressure that continued throughout the 1950s. The amusement park was in debt to many parties, and the general financial situation in Finland was weak, so people used their limited funds only for necessary expenses. By the summer of 1953, Vuoristorata's profit had dropped to a quarter compared to its first year.
The construction of Vuoristorata cost 48 million Finnish marks (approximately €1.8 million in today's money), which was almost twice the original estimate. There was uncertainty over Vuoristorata for several years, and many estimated it to last only 10 to 15 years.
In the photo are Italian Olympic athletes on Vuoristorata in July 1952.
Photo: Volker von Bonin / Helsinki City Museum
According to many, one of the best sections of Vuoristorata is the so-called ”platform hill”, where the riders – especially in the first car – hop into the air. Judging by the look on the riders’ faces, this was the case already in 1955.
Photo: Helsinki City Museum
In the 1950s, Linnanmäki's customers were offered many kinds of attractions, e.g. petrol car circuit, ghost train and ballroom. However, the overwhelming favorite was Vuoristorata.
Vuoristorata has been the most popular ride in Linnanmäki since its opening.
Photo: Monifoto / Helsinki City Museum
The flags of Vuoristorata’s platform told the visitors a story – we can thank the Danes for bringing the roller coaster to Linnanmäki. As early as 1957, waffles were one of the amusement park visitors’ favorite delicacies.
Photo: Alvar Kolanen
In the early years, operating Linnanmäki was not very organized, but the amusement park was operated by numerous entities that had contractual relationships with each other. Svend Jarlstrøm owned the amusement rides and some of the games, Lauri Seiterä operated four games and the mermaid hall, and the kiosks were run by various private operators. In 1956, it was decided to clarify the situation, and six Finnish child welfare organizations involved in Linnanmäki's activities founded Children's Day Foundation to operate the amusement park. With the establishment of the foundation, there was one operator responsible for Linnanmäki's operations and the amusement park could be developed more efficiently. With that, activities started to be slowly transferred from external actors to the foundation.
An important part of this project was the purchase of amusement rides from Svend Jarlstrøm in April 1959. Until then, Jarlstrøm had received 80% of Vuoristorata's revenue and half of the revenue from all other rides. The deal included 10 rides, and the total purchase price was 40 million Finnish marks. With that, Vuoristorata also became Linnanmäki's property. In the 1960s, the economic situation began to improve, and Vuoristorata sealed its place as the amusement park's number one attraction.
The photo shows the rush of speed in the second curve of Vuoristorata in the late 1950s.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
In addition to professional customer service, the brakemen have always been primarily responsible for the safety of Vuoristorata. Brakemen's professional skills are guaranteed by training, during which they learn to work at Vuoristorata and brake a train. At first, the student sits in the last seat listening to the guidance of an experienced brakeman, after which the student moves on to braking himself. When the teacher feels that the student has mastered working at Vuoristorata, he is allowed to brake the train independently.
In the 1960s, the training of a brakeman lasted 6 weeks, and the age limit for the job was 21. At that time, the training went as mentioned above, just as it does today. The first brakemen in 1951 were trained by a brakeman from the Bakken amusement park in Denmark.
In the photo, brakeman Bjarne Lund is closing customers' safety bar in the early 1960s.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
Originally, Vuoristorata’s brakeman did his job sitting on his own bench in the last car of the train. The brakemen had a rule that it was forbidden to stand up during the course. Stig Lindholm, who worked as a brakeman from 1958 to 1973, was the first brakeman to defy this rule in the late 1950s. He found that braking while standing was a better way to do the job, as the brakeman can see the train and the surroundings better and at the same time gets rid of the rattling, making it easier to control the brake. Since then, Vuoristorata has been known for its standing brakemen.
Since there are only six other operating roller coasters that have onboard brakemen today, Vuoristorata is a very rare and valuable attraction.
The picture shows a style sample of the brakeman from the summer of 1962.
Photo: Sky-Foto Möller / Helsinki City Museum
Perhaps the best-known visitor of Vuoristorata at the time was the eighth President of Finland Urho Kekkonen, who visited Linnanmäki on July 25, 1966. Kekkonen, who was nervous about the roller coaster ride, wanted the provost accompanying the party in the same car to make him feel safer.
In the picture, Bo Ekelund, then-CEO of Linnanmäki, is sitting next to Kekkonen on Vuoristorata. Stig Lindholm was the brakeman for the ride.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
Bo Ekelund (1922–2011) worked at Linnanmäki from the very beginning, first as chief of staff and later as the amusement park's longest-serving CEO from 1958 to 1987. Ekelund was involved in realizing important attractions at Linnanmäki, including Vuoristorata. Ekelund e.g. recruited the first brakemen. He lived for many years in a wooden house next to Vuoristorata and was constantly present in the everyday life of Vuoristorata and its employees. Under his leadership, Linnanmäki developed over the decades from a "shack village" to an internationally recognized amusement park.
In the photo, Ekelund is photographed on the steps of Vuoristorata's depot in the mid-1960s.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
Height restrictions for the riders were introduced in Linnanmäki for the season 1995. Before that the age limit was in place for all rides. In the 1960s, the age limit for Vuoristorata was 12 years.
In the picture, the young lad seems to be annoyed when he couldn’t get on board, and the lady also decided to stay and watch Vuoristorata from the queuing area.
Photo: Volker von Bonin / Helsinki City Museum
Calypso gave its riders a spin in front of Vuoristorata in the late 1960s. The Carousel which can also be seen in the picture, forms a legendary duo with Vuoristorata. The Carousel, built in Germany in 1896, is almost 130 years old, but it did not arrive in Linnanmäki until 1954 – therefore Vuoristorata is the oldest original attraction in the amusement park.
Photo: Pekka Kyytinen / Finnish Heritage Agency
Vuoristorata winters under a snow cover for months every year. In the past, the winter break was much longer than it is today, because until the turn of the millennium, Linnanmäki was only open for four months of the year, from 1st of May to the first weekend of September.
"It won't open yet," caretaker Leander Kronqvist quipped in March 1967.
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
The wristband, now familiar to Vuoristorata's visitors, was put into use at Linnanmäki for the season 1989. Before that, a single ticket was bought for each ride. In the 1970s, a ride on the Vuoristorata cost 1.5 Finnish marks for adults and one mark for children. Tickets for Vuoristorata were bought from the booths under the canopy of the entrance, after which the journey continued to the familiar waiting ramp and on to the train.
In the photo is the entrance to Vuoristorata in atmospheric evening lighting in the late 1960s. In the background you can see the light chain and pennants of the platform, and the yellow train is currently crossing the so-called platform hill.
The entrance building was demolished due to lack of space in the winter of 1979, when the Monorail was built next to Vuoristorata.
Photo: Vilho Uomala / Finnish Heritage Agency
Linnanmäki had considerably less rides and buildings 50 years ago than today, and Vuoristorata dominated the landscape as a massive landmark. For years, there were advertisements for various tobacco products on the outer wall of the tunnel, and the ferris wheel was also named after a cigarette brand. Outdoor advertising was banned by the Tobacco Act in 1978.
Aerial view of the amusement park from 1973.
Photo: Sky-Foto Möller / Helsinki City Museum
Photo: Linnanmäki archive
”The whole people of Finland will certainly want to make this trip,” said Erik von Frenckell at the opening ceremony of Vuoristorata on July 13, 1951. The deputy mayor’s statement was not far from the truth – every year during the summer season, about 800,000 guests ride Vuoristorata. All in all, it has been estimated that Vuoristorata has been visited over 40 million times during the decades.
In the summer of 1973, one million annual visitors was exceeded for the first time in Linnanmäki, and Vuoristorata has played a very important role in increasing Linnanmäki’s popularity. For almost every amusement park guest, a ride on Vuoristorata is a part of the summer.
The warm summer air blew on the riders’ faces in the highest ”curve one” of Vuoristorata on a sunny day in July 1985, and the same experience can still be had in Linnanmäki.
Photo: Juhani Meronen / Helsinki City Museum
Vuoristorata’s birthday is celebrated each year on 13th of July. When Vuoristorata turned 40, the big red neon sign was installed on top of the hill in the middle of Vuoristorata, and it is still in place today.
Pictured are brakemen posing on the so-called ”text hill”, on Vuoristorata’s birthday on July 13, 1991.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
Although sun is shining during most of the days in summer, sometimes Vuoristorata needs to be operated in very variable weather conditions. On May 14, 1995 (which was the Mother’s Day in Finland) brakemen were surprised by a heavy snowfall. But the trains kept on going.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
Brakemen travel each year to other amusement parks to check out wooden roller coasters around the world. A roller coaster that is the most associated with Vuoristorata is of course Rutschebanen of Bakken amusement park, which is located in Klampenborg, outside Copenhagen. Rutschebanen opened in 1932 and Vuoristorata has been built according to its drawings. Rutschebanen had its own brakemen until 2009, after which the braking systems were automatised. So the original is now found only at Linnanmäki!
In the photo brakemen are visiting Rutschebanen in 2002.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
The brakemen in a "class photo", taken on Vuoristorata’s 60th birthday on July 13, 2011. The brakemen in the picture have a total of 175 years of experience of operating Vuoristorata, so the customers were in the safe hands of the professionals. To commemorate the early years’ brakemen’s uniform, the dresscode was white shirt and black tie.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
Toivo ”Topi” Lipponen worked as a brakeman during seasons 1975–2011. He started working in Linnanmäki in 1974 as a ride operator, and next year field chief Pekka Oksanen sent Topi to Vuoristorata for the brakeman’s training. Topi worked as a brakeman for 37 seasons, most of which he was brakeman #1, which means he was the oldest working brakeman at Vuoristorata. When Topi decided to retire, the brakemen also retired his brakeman number 1 as an honor for Topi’s long career as a brakeman.
Photo is from Vuoristorata’s 61st birthday on July 13, 2012, when Topi had his last rides as a brakeman.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
One of the long-standing traditions of the brakemen is driving so-called ”horn trains” on the last day of the season. This tradition is to celebrate the end of the season and it’s also a sign for fellow workers and customers that the summer has ended.
All of the season’s brakemen are on the first horn train. Often this horn train is driven by a brakemen who is retiring – a glorious way to end a career of many many years.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
The last day of the season is very important to the season workers and of course the brakemen. Approximately 42,000 cycles are run during the summer season, so after six months’ work the last day is often sentimental. What follows is half a year of waiting for the next season, and for some the last day of the season is also their final shift at Linnanmäki.
In the photo are brakemen of the last evening of the season on October 19, 2014.
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
In 2021, Vuoristorata moved into a new decade, when the Old Lady turned a respectable 70 years old. During its history, Vuoristorata has remained Linnanmäki's most iconic and well-known attraction, and hundreds of thousands of guests enjoyed the legend's ride during the festive summer.
Brakemasters warmly welcome everyone to enjoy the wonderful rides of Vuoristorata again this summer!
Photo: Brakemen’s archive
