23 years ago a tram was purchased for possible use on the Manx Electric Railway but once delivered it was decided it would be too wide to travel on the line – and now it looks as if its current life on the Isle of Man may be coming to an end as it is in the way of the Ballasalla bypass. Lisbon 360 was purchased in 1996 (arriving in the Isle of Man in the May of that year) but was destined never to run and eventually was sold to a private individual who proceeded to convert it to a bar in his back garden!
Grant Taylor purchased the tram and placed it in his garden before converting it to a bar but his cottage is being purchased by the government to allow the Ballasalla bypass to be constructed. Mr Taylor can’t move the tram to his new property because of space constraints so will have to leave it behind and the government have offered him £2,000 to either buy the tram or to pay for its transport elsewhere.
360 has only been in the garden since 2013 having been used as a shelter at Derby Castle between 2000 and 2002 before it was in storage firstly at Homefield Bus Garage and then later at JCK Balthanes yard in Ballasalla.