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More trains, trams and horses today!

Overcast turning sunny. Up to Laxey for visit to MER Shed. Then walked up to the Laxey Wheel and mine before returning to Douglas for horse tram ride before catching bus to hotel.

Lady Isabella wheel and surrounding area….

Allan comments…

Had a nice day out to Laxey car sead of the MER. (Manx Electric Railway).  Took the Wickham Trolly down to the shed. Some very interesting stock inside. No.23 was there awaiting its turn to get back on the rails. It shares trucks with No.33 which is covering the emergency overhead line train this week.  The Snaefell brought down to Laxey the two Wickhams used by air traffic and civil aviation to take equipment to their station at the summit.

Views from the Wickham Trolley from Laxey to the shed.

Back to Laxey…

And to Douglas Bay…

Do the local spotters collect horse numbers?????

Finally, double-headed at Port Erin.

Wednesday – the horsey bit! (Is this a class GG1?)

And you can’t keep the Dawes’ away from the sheds…..

“How am I supposed to read your watch with these ‘ere blinkers on?”

And off by tram to Groudle Glen.  I think Ron missed out on a career as a weather forecaster….

Overcast turning to heavy rain. Went up to Groudle Glen for ride on railway. Then did round trip to Ramsey before heading back to hotel.

Groudle Glen.  Any relation to Dingley Dell????

And on to Ramsey….

Got to Ramsey on this green tram.  As they were going about putting the trailer car on the other end, this tram had trouble with its brakes. They got it working after I left. It came back in service but without the trailer. What had gone wrong with one of its braking system, I don’t know.

And finally for today. back to Laxey.

Tuesday…..

Sunny. Up to Laxey for a visit to Snaefell. We visited the sheds of the Snaefell Railway. Was a good tour and leaned a lot about what was going on. They only have 4 working trams. Nos. 1, 2, 4 & 5. They are building/rebuilding no 6. This is a complete build with lots of updates, as you can see from the photo. The first set of photos is what was in the yard. There was nothing left in the shed. 

And now back from the visit for the return trip up to Ramsey.

Laxey

Snaefell Railway sheds.

After the shed tour we were sitting down for a drink. MET 34 showed up towing two open trailers. On a special.  Don’t know what happened north of Laxey? The next train in was terminated at Laxey. So we headed for the bus.  On the way through to Ramsey over an hour later it was spotted still working its way to Ramsey. 

On the other hand this vehicle started life on the Snaefell. But was regaled for the MET.

Snaefell trams outside Laxey.

Port Erin.

Mainly train remains today….

Spent the day on a tour of the closed lines on the IOM. Sunny. Left hotel early to catch the closed lines tour we had booked, which was basically Douglas-Peel-Ramsey-Douglas with 2 side trips.

The fine entrance to Douglas station….

Union Mills Station.  Home too of the much lamented N gauge loco manufacturer.

My favourite IOM loco – and the only 0-6-0T.  Caledonia at the site of WW1 internment camp.

Peel.

Kirk Michael viaduct and station.

Queens Pier Ramsey is being rebuilt and this train is just standing at start of 50 metre stretch.

Allan did manage to find another train running!

Curragh Wildlife Park – compare the market.com but no sign of the wombat.  (Meercat thinks – what are these strange creatures watching me for?  Are they edible??  Am I edible???)

And so to the next day.  The English summer continues….

Wet and Windy all day till this evening. Bus into Douglas then MER to Laxey then up to Snaefell where visibility was limited.

Douglas Bay.  Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside?

And on to a wet Laxey….

But the trams look good, rain or shine….

The less said about the top of Snaefell the better….

Wet, windy and misty.  A funny point and the the area where the tram stop had specific paving stones.

Back at sea level…

It turned out a lovely evening in Port Erin for the first gathering of the transport week.

Then this turned up.

Allan & Ron have returned to the Isle of Man for the transport week.  So this week we’ll have photos of trains, trams, and perhaps even horses.  And no doubt there will be a picture of some interesting local delicacy (food or drink, that is….)

The holiday started in Liverpool via Chester…..

Travelled today by train to Chester via Liverpool for our overnight stay prior to catching ferry tomorrow morning.  Long journey to Liverpool because of engineering working and waits of up to 20 mins at major stations.  No ticket check until we got to Chester.

Next morning…..

Heavy rain. Sitting in departure lounge for ferry.

The same rain that wrecked England’s chances in the Test Match.  I blame Allan & Ron!

Chester station.

Gerry & the Pacemakers’ boat – Ferry across the Mersey.

IOM ferry from departure lounge.  Is that an icebreaker on the bow, for the English summer?

And so to a miserable looking Calf of Man….

However, the day improved with some solid trainspotting (and riding!)

To round the day off, we went for the last round-trip on route 28, Port Erin to Calf Sound. When we got there we were talking to the driver about the up coming transport week, Only to find out he owned 3 Ribble Leyland Leopards. He then asked if we would like to see the Leyland PD2 (I think) in the garage at Port Erin on our return. Now that was a no brainer….

More next time…