Isle of Man Railways have revealed that the derailment of trailer 58 at Laxey on 7th July was down to the staff involved in the shunting manoeuvre not following the correct operating procedures. As we reported at the time 58 derailed and toppled over at Laxey during a routine shunt which led to services on the Manx Electric Railway to Ramsey being suspended for a day whilst the tram was recovered.
Whereas when any incident takes place on the UK mainland you are lucky to hear what the cause was a year later Isle of Man Railways have undertaken a swift review of the incident and discovered that one of the crew members involved in the shunt was at fault. The motorman of the tram has since resigned.
Ian Longworth, Director of Public Transport, said: “The derailment resulted from the trailer fouling the points because a crew member did not follow the correct procedure. The matter is now closed and there are no implications for our public tram services, which continue to operate safely according to the published timetable.”
58 is currently stored at Laxey Sheds whilst a decision is made on the repairs necessary to return it to service.