{"id":57972,"date":"2025-04-11T22:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T21:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=57972"},"modified":"2025-04-11T18:41:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T17:41:35","slug":"an-update-from-the-isle-of-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=57972","title":{"rendered":"An update from the Isle of Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

All three tramways on the Isle of Man are now operating for their 2025 seasons with the Snaefell Mountain Railway (30th<\/sup> March) and Douglas Bay Horse Tramway (3rd<\/sup> April) joining the Manx Electric Railway which, as we reported previously got things underway on 18th<\/sup> March. All three will now be running until Sunday 2nd<\/sup> November 2025 (as will the Isle of Man Steam Railway), but things won\u2019t quite be as they were last year as the workshops have been a hive of activity over the winter period.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For both the Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway a lot of the winter maintenance work has included repaints. The Snaefell Mountain Railway\u2019s no. 4<\/strong> has enjoyed a full repaint, retaining the standard fleet livery of teak, red and white. The work was completed at the Snaefell Shed in Laxey.<\/p>\n

On the Manx Electric Railway there have been repaints for Winter Saloon 22<\/strong> and Trailers 41<\/strong> and 48<\/strong> \u2013 all into standard fleet colours. Whilst this is no real change for 22<\/strong> or 41<\/strong>, for 48<\/strong> this marks the end of its time in the blue and white livery it was painted into to match Tunnel Car 7<\/strong>. All three have returned to service with 48<\/strong> used for the first time in 2025 on 22nd<\/sup> March, 22<\/strong> on 29th<\/sup> March and 41<\/strong> on 1st<\/sup> April.<\/p>\n

In addition, Manx Electric Railway 47<\/strong> returned to service on 3rd<\/sup> April, its first use since 2023. This tram has also enjoyed a repaint, but this actually took place the previous winter, although it subsequently wasn\u2019t used in service during 2024.<\/p>\n

But possibly the most significant return to service so far this year has been that of Winter Saloon 19<\/strong>. Sunday 6th April saw the tram return to passenger service for the first since the end of 2022, with it having undergone an extensive overhaul in that time. Whilst many other vehicles have returned to what is the more usual red, white and teak livery after work, for 19<\/strong> its a different story as it retains the Douglas, Laxey & Ramsey Electric Tramway cream and teak livery.<\/p>\n

A tram which is on the road to return is Winter Saloon 20<\/strong>. This ran in 2024 but has now been taken out of service for an overhaul. Rapid progress has been made on the tram and the end of March saw it shunted into the paintshop in readiness for it to, unsurprisingly, be repainted.<\/p>\n

The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway isn\u2019t t be left out either as unique operational double decker 18<\/strong> has entered the works at Strathallan Depot where it is enjoying a full overhaul. Whilst not used on a day-to-day basis, the tram is always popular when it is used on special occasions and this work should see the tram operational for a good few years to come.<\/p>\n