The first two of the recently sold Douglas horse trams have now left their home system, following the recent auction to sell off six redundant tramcars. Both 33 and 34 have already left Strathallan depot, although both are set to remain on the Isle of Man for the foreseeable future.
It was Crossbench car 34 that started the ball rolling for the departures on Wednesday 7th September. The tram – which appears to be in excellent condition despite several years of storage – was loaded onto a small road vehicle with assistance from a crane, before setting off for an unconfirmed destination to the west of the island.
The following day it was the turn of sister car 33 for a date with a crane and it too was lowered onto a small wagon to be taken to its new home, this time on the north side of the island. Although looking a little shabby compared to 34, car 33 also appears to be complete and should not require much work to be made more presentable by its new owners. Of interest, 33 retained its auction lot number 2 which had been stuck to its dash panel, presumably for identification purposes for the viewing day prior to the auction itself.
Hopefully both trams will be going to good homes and will survive long into the future, and who knows, maybe one or both could eventually run again – as long as they survive, anything is possible!