Whilst the Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway have been running since May we had only known operating dates up until July but that has now changed with confirmation of the plans up until mid-September being recently released. This will see services running five days a week and also includes an evening service on the MER with a nice round-trip available from Derby Castle to Ramsey at 2055 (arriving back in Douglas at 2340).
The newly announced timetables start from Thursday 1st July and replace the previously announced first two and a half weeks of July service which had only seen planned running on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. From 1st July all the way until Sunday 12th September services will be running on both the MER and SMR fives days a week with only Mondays and Thursdays seeing no service. There is one exception to this as Thursday 1st July does see a service on both lines.
Timetable C will again be in use on all operating days. This sees eight end to end journeys on the MER plus one additional late afternoon Derby Castle to Laxey return trip. First departure each day from Derby Castle is at 0940 with this trip returning from Ramsey at 1110 (which is the first southbound trip of the day) with the final round-trip being 1510 ex-Derby Castle and returning from Ramsey at 1640 with a arrival at Douglas of 1755. The Laxey trip is 1610 from Derby Castle and return at 1655 from Laxey.
The main difference on the MER is that on every Friday from 9th July there will be an evening service – timetable G. This will see an additional five departures from Derby Castle – two as far as Laxey (1540 and 1910) with the remaining three running all the way to Ramsey (1610, 1740, 2055). The last departure back from Ramsey is at 2225 which doesn’t get back to Derby Castle until 2340!
As for the Snaefell Mountain Railway, timetable C runs throughout the period. This will see half hourly departures from Laxey to the Summit between 1015 and 1545 with returns back down the Mountain between 1110 and 1640.
For completeness the Isle of Man Steam Railway will be running Thursdays to Mondays from Thursday 8th July with four return journeys each day. There remains no news on the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway.
The Isle of Man is partially reopening their borders from the week of 28th June with anyone from the UK, Ireland or the Channel Islands who is fully vaccinated (that’s having received both does of the vaccine in those areas with the second one at least two weeks previously) and has not been out of these areas for the previous 10 days able to visit the island. More information on the requirements can be found at this link: https://www.visitisleofman.com/visitor-information/coronavirus-information.
- The full summer 2021 Isle of Man heritage railways timetable can be downloaded at https://www.iombusandrail.im/media/2128/2021-summer-railway-timetable.pdf