Occasionally things don’t quite go according to plan on tramways across the British Isles and that was the case on Thursday 10th April for the Manx Electric Railway with the final departure of the day from Ramsey suffering and ending up being cancelled.
Tunnel Car 5 was in charge of the departure – which on timetable C is the 1640 Ramsey to Derby Castle – and was accompanied by recently repainted trailer 48. Having performed the usual run-round manoeuvre without any issues when the tram departed it ran in to some problems. The trolley hadn’t been turned and when the set departed the trolley got caught in the overhead frog leading to damage to the overhead as well as the trolley. In fact as can be seen in the below photos the trolley got rather bent out of shape!
The service was cancelled and intending passengers were guided towards the no. 3 bus to continue their journeys south. Engineers from Derby Castle were called to get to Ramsey and to solve the issue.
The stricken 48 and 5 are seen here at Ramsey Station with all passengers having alighted following the issue.
A closer view showing just how much the trolley pole was bent in the incident. The fact it hasn’t snapped off shows just how much give the poles actually have in them. (Both Photographs by Michael Chase, 10th April 2025)