Could the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway reach the Sea Terminal again? It’s a question which has been posed countless times over the past few years with the “yes its funded, no its not” saga seemingly to have been going on for a long time and now there could be a final answer to it with new public displays giving options for how the Promenade could look in the future. This includes the potential option of re-extending the tramway beyond its (hopefully) temporary terminus at Broadway.
You have to go a fair way through the Press Release from the Department of Infrastructure to find mention of Horse Tramway: “Running horse tram tracks between Broadway and the Sea Terminal is designated on the plan as heritage, in line with Infrastructure Minister Chris Thomas MHK’s intention to hold talks with relevant bodies about funding the tramway.”
As a reminder – if you indeed need one – the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway ran as far as the Sea Terminal up until 2019 at which point operations were temporarily suspended to allow for Promenade redevelopment works. These works were beset with issues – budgetary and time – and although keeping the tramway along its entire length from Derby Castle to the Sea Terminal has been funded at various times when horse trams started running again earlier this year it was just as far as Broadway with the section from there to the Sea Terminal not relaid.
At the time the Isle of Man Government were non-committal about whether they’d go all the way citing funding and calling on more debate in Tynwald before deciding on whether to fund it (even though Tynwald had previously supported the funding in previous stages of the project).
This new press release is one of the first official mentions of the horse tramway running to Sea Terminal for some time, and although its not exactly a ringing endorsement of putting the tracks down (which would likely to be single track with passing loop at the side of the road) its better than we’ve head up to now.
The plans are being displayed at both the Sea Terminal and Town Hall until early 2023. As well as the horse tramway the plans include building sea walls, replacing railings, creating pedestrian crossings, installing flood gate defences and refurbishing the walkway.
No ifs, no buts, just get it Rebuilt! This is ridiculous. A tramway going from the MIDDLE of the promenade to where everyone (i.e. tourists) wants to get to. Hang your heads in shame DOI!
What I don’t understand is how The DOI got away with messing with the tramway in the first place. Surely, as the oldest operational horse tramway in the world, it should have been protected in some way, perhaps similar to how we protect listed buildings and other historic sites.
The selling off of a fairly large percentage of the fleet a few years ago didn’t help matters either. The power that be on the island seem to be devoid of not just logic and sentiment, but also their historic responsibilities.
How difficult can it be to lay a bit of horse tram track? A gang if Irish navies from the mid 19th century could have the job done in a few weeks.