Trip to Isle of Man - July 2025 (under construction)
General Notes
A week away on the Isle of Man with a group of former colleagues from various Alstom sites, with friends and family, excellently organised by Philip. There are photos here from a previous similar trip in 2014.
The Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway vehicles are really electric railcars, and officially they are Railways not Tramways - but they are listed below as trams as that is the normal local term. Both railways have short sections of street running.
Operating Company Abbreviations and Details
- DBHT - Douglas Bay Horse Tramway (3 foot / 914 mm gauge) - 1.6 mile (2.6 km) double track route between Derby Castle and the Sea Terminal along the Douglas Bay promenade, but as of 2022 only in operation as far as Villa Marina. Originally opened in 1876.
- GGR - Groudle Glen Railway (2 foot / 610 mm gauge) - 0.56 mile (0.9 km) single track between Lhen Coan and Sea Lion Rocks, originally built in 1896 to serve a zoo at Sea Lion Rocks; closed in 1962, re-opened in 1986.
- GLMR - Great Laxey Mine Railway (19 inch / 483 mm gauge) - 0.25 mile (0.4 km) route partly on the course of the 1870s Laxey lead mine railway; operates between Valley Gardens and Mines Yard.
- IMR - Isle Of Man Railway (3 foot / 914 mm gauge) - 15.5 mile (25 km) single track route between Douglas and Port Erin, opened 1874. Generally worked by steam locomotives.
- MER - Manx Electric Railway (3 foot / 914 mm gauge) - 17 mile (27 km) double track route between Derby Castle (Douglas) and Ramsey via Laxey. Opened 1893. Electrified at 550 V dc overhead, using trolley pole power pick-up.
- SMR - Snaefell Mountain Railway (3 ft 6 in / 1067 mm gauge) - 5.5 mile (9 km) double track route (with right-hand running) between Laxey and Snaefell Summit, the station being just below the 2036 foot / 621 m mountain summit. Equipped with Fell System centre braking rail. Opened 1895. Electrified at 550 V dc overhead, using twin bow-collector power pick-up.
Track gauge
Manchester trams: standard gauge (1435 mm). Other gauges as listed above against each Operating Company.
| Place | Arrive | Depart | Train | Traction details & notes |
Tuesday 15 July 2025
| Timperley | 09:53 | Manchester tram 3050 | ||
| Altrincham Interchange | 09:58 | 10:15 | '288' | BeeNetwork bus |
| Manchester Airport The Station | 10:40 | |||
| Manchester T3 (MAN) | 12:35 | LM694 | Loganair ATR72-600 G-LMTD; gate 148; push-back 12:52, take-off 13:08 from runway 23L | |
| Isle of Man (IOM) (Ronaldsway) | 13:25 | landed 13:41 on runway 26, on stand 13:45 | ||
| Airport | 14:04 | '11a' | bus vannin bus | |
| Douglas Victoria Street | 14:33 | 14:33 | '11a' | bus change |
| Central Promenade/Mona Drive | 14:46 | |||
| Overnight: Welbeck Hotel, Mona Drive, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM2 4LF (all 6 nights). Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes: Loganair flight from Manchester to the island's main airport at Ronaldsway near Castletown. The airport does have a railway station but the steam service is infrequent, and it's much easier to get the bus. Most Port Erin - airport - Douglas buses continue through to Onchan so pass the hotel. The Welbeck was an excellent choice of hotel with good breakfasts and evening meals: it is roughly mid-way between Derby Castle and Douglas centre, slightly back from the main promenade, and close to Mona Drive bus/horse tram stop. After checking in and meeting some of the other group members we walked into Douglas to view the arrival of the last steam train of the day from Port Erin. There are a variety of shipping routes from Liverpool or Heysham but flying suited me better at this time. Easyjet also fly to Ronaldsway from Manchester, and various airlines also operate other routes to Ronaldsway. |
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Wednesday 16 July 2025
| Derby Castle | 09:03 | - | MER tram 9 driving experience private charter | |
| Via Laxey - Laxey north crossover 09:30/09:31 (rev) - Laxey 09:33/09:33 (rev) - Laxey station siding (09:34/10:10, rev) - Laxey (10:11/10:25, rev then 'wrong line' to Vicarage Wall crossover - beyond Ramsey Road level crossing | ||||
| Ramsey Road | 10:26 | 10:27 | - | MER tram 9 - myself driving under supervision |
| Ballagorry | 10:50 | 10:53 | - | MER tram 9 - Richard driving under supervision |
| Ramsey (rev) | 11:18 | 11:24 | - | MER tram 9 - Richard driving under supervision |
| Ballagorry | 11:46 | 11:47 | - | MER tram 9 - myself driving under supervision |
| Ramsey Road | 12:06 | 12:06 | - | MER tram 9 driving experience private charter |
| Laxey | 12:07 | |||
| Laxey | 14:05 | - | MER tram 9 driving experience private charter shunt via Laxey Car Shed crossover | |
| Laxey | 14:11 | |||
| Laxey | 15:15 | - | SMR tram 1 | |
| Snaefell Summit | 15:42 | 15:50 | - | SMR tram 1 |
| Laxey | 16:20 | 16:48 | - | MER tram 9 driving experience private charter |
| Derby Castle | 17:18 | 18:40 | - | MER tram 32 |
| Groudle | 18:50 | |||
| Lhen Coan | 19:17 | - | GGR SL Otter | |
| Sea Lion Rocks | 19:22 | 20:05 | - | GGR SL Brown Bear |
| Lhen Coan | 20:10 | |||
| Groudle | 20:25 | - | MER tram 21 | |
| Derby Castle | 20:35 | |||
| Overnight: Welbeck Hotel, Douglas. Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes: The Manx Electric Railway has an Ultimate Driving Experience scheme allowing supervised driving of the trams, and catering for different levels of experience. Essentially we had the use of tram 9 as our own private charter all day, starting and ending at Derby Castle. The driving experience route itself was the section from just north of Laxey (to avoid the busy station and road crossings there) to Ramsey, fitting in between the scheduled passenger service. Three return runs were made between Laxey and Ramsey with different members of the group driving over different sections, to give a variety of conditions of motoring and braking. As usual with trains and trams, braking is the much more difficult task! Training was given in the siding at Laxey or in the station area there. I drove from Laxey to Ballagorry (including the climb of two miles at mostly at a 1 in 24 gradient up to the line's 588 foot summit level at Bulgham) and back, and I found it challenging but very enjoyable. After some "tram-watching" at Laxey I paid a brief visit to the summit at Snaefell (nice and clear, unusually), then we returned to Derby Castle for dinner at the Terminus pub there. We used the Wednesday evening-only short workings to Groudle to have a ride on the Groudle Glen steam railway. |
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Thursday 17 July 2025
| Mona Drive | 09:12 | - | DBHT horse 'Elodie' + trailer 36 | |
| Villa Marina | 09:15 | |||
| Douglas steam depot visit | ||||
| Douglas | 11:50 | - | IMR SL 13 'Kissack' dep 10 late | |
| Castletown | 12:35 | |||
| Castletown station/Elizabeth rise | 12:42 | '12a' | bus vannin bus | |
| Gansey/Water's Edge | 12:54 | |||
| Walk via coastal path - Port St Mary - The Chasms - The Sound - Port Erin Strava plot | ||||
| Port Erin Railway Station | 18:18 | '11a' | bus vannin bus | |
| Castletown Square | 18:41 | 20:59 | '11' | bus vannin bus |
| Mona Drive | 21:40 | |||
| Overnight: Welbeck Hotel, Douglas. Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes: A walking day, after we had had a special guided visit to the steam railway depot at Douglas. The walk was very pleasant, around 15 km on the coastal path from the bus stop at Gansey bay via Port St Mary, the Chasms, the Sound (light lunch in the cafe there) and on to Port Erin. Visibility was poor in places due to low cloud, but we saw plenty of seals in the sea at the Chasms. We took the bus to Castletown for a group evening meal at The George pub before heading back to the hotel. |
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Friday 18 July 2025
| Derby Castle | 11:51 | '12a' | bus vannin bus | |
| Douglas Lord Street | 12:02 | 12:37 | '6' | bus vannin bus arr 6 late (missed connection into bus 5 at 12:07) |
| Peel Promenade | 13:12 | |||
| Walk via coastal path, with a lift by car from Glen Maye village car park to Sloc car park. Strava plot 1 (first km missing) to Glen Maye then Strava plot 2 from Sloc to Port Erin. | ||||
| Port Erin Railway Station | 21:06 | '2' | bus vannin bus | |
| Mona Drive | 22:00 | |||
| Overnight: Welbeck Hotel, Douglas. Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes: Another walking day, this time preceded by a special guided visit to the Manx Electric Railway depot at Derby Castle. Then by bus to Peel, though we missed the connection in Douglas due to the '12a' being delayed by road works on the promenade. Total walking distance about 14 km; we had lifts by car, courtesy of Philip and Jenny, from Glen Maye to Sloc, due to a combination of reducing the distance due to late running and partly due to more low cloud reducing visibilty on the intended route via Cronk ny Arrey Laa. This time a smaller group had evening meal at The Station pub (opposite the railway station in Port Erin) before heading back to the hotel. |
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Saturday 19 July 2025
| Mona Drive | 08:24 | - | DBHT horse 'Torrin' + trailer 36 | |
| Derby Castle | 09:31 | 09:40 | - | MER tram 32 + trailer 41 |
| Laxey | 10:05 | 10:15 | - | SMR tram 1 |
| Snaefell Summit | 10:40 | 11:20 | - | SMR tram 4 |
| Laxey | 11:49 | |||
| Valley Gardens | 14:01 | - | GLMR SL 'Bee' | |
| Mines Yard | 14:08 | |||
| Laxey | 14:40 | - | MER tram 21 + trailer 42 | |
| Glen Mona | 15:02 | |||
| Triangular walk to Port Cornaa and back Strava plot | ||||
| Murray's Road | 16:40 | - | MER tram 2 + trailer 47 | |
| Ramsey | 16:57 | |||
| Walk to Queens Pier then around the docks area. | ||||
| Ramsey | 22:10 | - | MER tram 22 | |
| Derby Castle | 23:25 | |||
| Overnight: Welbeck Hotel, Douglas. Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes: Another trip up the mountain this morning, even though the summit was in cloud. Time for a ride on the Great Laxey Mine Railway steam working before heading north for a shorter, 5 km, walk. The Manx Electric Railway has a lot of request-stop halts that are not in the timetable, and we took advantage of this to drop us at Glen Mona for the walk to the beach at Port Cornaa. We were intending to return to Cornaa halt but the map let us down as we would have to have used a private road. However it was only a short walk to Murray's Road halt which is just a sign at a narrow road level crossing. At Ramsey we walked to Queens Pier which is being restored; this had a 914 mm gauge railway for baggage and later for passengers, which is also being restored. Walking continued via the Ramsey docks area, before an excellent Fish and Chips dinner in the Ramsey Trawlerman. Drinks in The Swan pub before heading back to Douglas on the day's last tram, taking advantage of the summer Saturday evening schedule. |
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Sunday 20 July 2025
| Villa Marina | 10:20 | - | DBHT horse 'Nelson' + trailer 36 dep 5 late | |
| Derby Castle | 10:30 | 10:40 | - | MER tram 9 + trailer 47 arr 10 late |
| Groudle | 10:53 | |||
| Lhen Coan | 11:11 | - | GGR SL Otter | |
| Sea Lion Rocks | 11:15 | 11:40 | - | GGR SL Otter |
| Lhen Coan | 11:45 | |||
| Groudle | 12:23 | - | MER tram 22 + trailer 48 | |
| Derby Castle | 12:32 | 12:40 | - | MER tram 22 + trailer 48 |
| Laxey | 13:10 | |||
| Visit Laxey Wheel. | ||||
| Laxey | 16:55 | - | MER tram 22 | |
| Derby Castle | 17:25 | |||
| Overnight: Welbeck Hotel, Douglas. Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes: Another visit to the Groudle Glen Railway, where a presentation was made to Philip to thank him for organising the trip. I spent an enjoyable couple of hours re-visiting the Laxey Wheel - the largest working water wheel in the world; my previous visit was in 1988. Back to the hotel for evening meal there. |
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Monday 21 July 2025
| Derby Castle | 09:40 | - | MER tram 21 + trailer 43 dep 6 late due to overhead line problems | |
| Laxey | 10:10 | arr 7 late | ||
| Business meeting in Laxey, then a lift to the airport. | ||||
| Isle of Man (IOM) | 15:40 | LM697 | Loganair ATR72-600 G-LMTD; gate 4; push-back 15:45, take-off 15:52 from runway 26 | |
| Manchester (MAN) | 16:30 | landed 16:28 on runway 23R, on stand gate 44 16:31 | ||
| Manchester Airport | 17:03 | - | Manchester tram 3108 | |
| Trafford Bar | 17:45 | 17:50 | - | Manchester trams 3019 + 3031 |
| Timperley | 18:03 | Today's photos. | ||
| Notes: I had arranged a business meeting at Laxey SMR depot, so I got the tram there - though I was slightly delayed by an overhead line defect! A lift from Laxey got me to the airport in plenty of time for the flight home. |
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| Tickets used: Wednesday to Sunday: "Go Explore" purchased at Ronaldsway airport - 5 days travel on all buses, trains and trams including the minor railways for £49, plus £2 for the smart card if you don't already have one. Also available at the main stations and tram stops. One Day Go Explore tickets can be obtained from bus drivers. I purchased single tickets for Tuesday and Monday. Weather: the weather was mostly dry but not too hot, good for the walks. Sunday afternoon was damp, the evening rainy. Snaefell: ideally you need to go up here in very clear weather for best visibility. However the workings can be full due to coach or cruise parties: details of these are posted at Laxey "on the day". Sometimes it is necessary to queue for up to an hour at Laxey. Capacity on the Snaefell workings is strictly limited to the number of seats in the vehicles. Extra workings are usually operated to prevent passengers from being left up the mountain at the end of normal service. Snaefell Summit has an excellent cafe, open when services are running. |