Not previously mentioned on our news pages is that over the winter Snaefell Mountain Railway 4 has received a repaint and is now once again in what is considered the standard fleet livery. The tram had been running for the past few years in a unique livery which has now been consigned to the history books.
4 is now running again in the red, white and teak livery which is has carried for most of its operating life but not all! It spent five years between 1958 and 1963 in the nationalised green livery during the period when several vehicles on both the Snaefell Mountain Railway and Manx Electric Railway went green. It was in fact the last one to retain the green colours at the end of this experimental livery period. 4 then received a special green and teak livery in 2018 to commemorate 50 years of nationalisation although this was not the same as that livery received back in the 1950s so was always a bit of an anachronism.
But this period for 4 is now over and it is looking resplendent in the standard colours once more!
Lovely spring sunshine at Snaefell Summit greets 4 as it waits out time before heading back down to Laxey. When it departs the Summit it will be running on a single line section with trackwork taking place below the North Shoulder. The double track resumes again below Bungalow. (Photograph by David Mee, 21st April 2023)