Manx Heritage Transport

The Isle of Man is fortunate in having, mainly thanks to the perspicacity of the Tynwald, in purchasing them for preservation, a unique collection of Victorian transport systems. These range from the horse drawn trams of Douglas to the Snaefell Electric Railway. The Isle of Man Tourist Board have not been slow to recognise their value, and made 1993 the 'Year of the Railways', to celebrate the centenary of the Manx Electric Railway, and as the basis of a marketing exercise, which drew in thousands of extra holidaymakers. This is a continuing exercise, as I downloaded from the web a timetable of events for this year's 'Railways Gala Fortnight, August 5th - 20th', which in printed form was freely available on the island, from places such as Laxey station. To encourage their use, Island Freedom Tickets are available which give unlimited travel on the I.O.M. Steam Railway, Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway, Douglas Corporation Horse Trams and last, but not least, I.O.M. Transport buses! These are available for 7 days (Ł30.90), 5 day (Ł26.50) and 3 day (Ł19.90), children (5-15) half price. I purchased five day passes, for my wife and I, since we were only visiting for a week (7th -14th August 2000) at the middle of the Gala Fortnight.

The Isle of Man is a classic example of the Victorian holiday phenomenon. It's major resorts, such as Douglas and Ramsey are full of large Victorian-Edwardian hotels such as the one we stayed in Douglas, the Mannin. The long promenade in Douglas made almost a necessity out of the horse tram in the days before alternative methods of transport. Steamers being then the only means of access, it was fortunate that the island had numerous natural harbours, at Douglas, Ramsey, Peel, Port St Mary, Castletown etc, all of which have masonry piers or breakwaters. This did not prevent the construction of extra, cast iron piers, such as at Ramsey. This was built for steamer services in 1886, largely due to a shortage of landing stages (Mickleborough, 1979, p.35) and was last used by such in 1970. Although this pier is now closed to use for safety reasons, the small locomotive from the railway line built along it for passenger transport, along with a trailer, is still preserved in the Manx Electric Railway tram-shed at Ramsey. A photo of the latter engine, the 1937 loco Planet, is to be seen on this site, which also has details of the numerous other, now defunct transport services, which were once available to holiday makers on the island, such as the Douglas Head Marine Drive Railway, as well as those that are still active. In this context, the National Tramway Museum, Crich, runs an excellent website, which if you download their browser plugin allows you to view their large collection of early, mainly black and white photos, on line. These include an excellent record of the Douglas Head Tramway, both in action in 1938, and in it's disused state in 1951, when car No1 was recoverered for the Science Museum, although now displayed at the Crich museum on loan (illustrated on p. 8 of their old guide). Additionally there are two interesting pictures of Queens Pier Ramsey, with Planet in action, along with a single carriage, taken in 1963. Interestingly enough the second image has in the background a departing steamer!

Over our 6 and a half day period (the morning of our first, rather overcast, day was taken up by the SeaCat journey from Liverpool), we were able to use our five day pass to ride on all the following heritage transport attractions.

Douglas Corporation Horse Trams .
Isle of Man Steam Railway.
Manx Electric Railway.
Snaefell Railway.
Groudle Glen Railway.