The timetable for the Manx Electric Railway – and the Snaefell Mountain Railway and Isle of Man Steam Railway – has been released and it is very much a case of as you were with very limited changes in the timetables. In fact the only really significant change is the use of the “World’s Oldest Trams” whose operation has now been pulled forward in the day and may not necessarily mean you get 1 or 2.
The Manx Electric Railway Season will start on Saturday 16th March with the unchanged timetable B which sees seven departures each day from Derby Castle with all but the second of the day running all the way to Ramsey. Timetable B then alternates with timetable C (10 departures from Derby Castle) until May when the main timetable D is seen for the first time at weekends and bank holidays. Timetable F – the most intensive runs daily between Monday 27th May and Thursday 6th June (as well as during the July Heritage Transport Festival) and then timetable D keeps the service running until the end of the first week of September (save for a few weekdays in May).
Talking of timetable D and the main change here is that the advertised use of the “World’s Oldest Trams” is altered for 2019. In 2018 it was planned to use 1 and 2 on timetable D’s 1340 departure from Derby Castle and 1510 return from Ramsey (although in practice they were often used on other parts of the same diagram) with open crossbenches (16, 32 or 33) used on the 1240 Derby Castle/1440 Ramsey. Now for 2019 the two groups have been merged although still under the bracket “World’s Oldest Trams” (which is now not particularly true considering 32 and 33 are actually the newest on the MER!). They will also now operate the 1040 from Derby Castle and 1240 back from Ramsey; whether they then continue on this diagram remains to be seen.
The only other apparent change in the timetables for 2019 is that on timetable D the previous 0910 Derby Castle to Laxey service has now been retimed to 0930 – just 10 minutes ahead of the 0940 to Ramsey.
The Manx Electric Railway 2019 season is due to run 16th March until 3rd November (some days early and late season see no service) and the timetable can be downloaded at https://www.gov.im/media/1364009/iom-railways-2019-timetable-web.pdf. Two special events will take place with Rush Hour on the Railways 19th to 22nd April and the Manx Heritage Transport Festival from 24th to 28th July.