Isle Of Man Steam Railway

Saw it today - its reguaged or running on 2ft bogies - airbraked and has a rebuilt 1990VofR door treadplates - looked nice

 

I can say that I saw F.68 during restoration, a few years ago and it was on 2ft bogies then. I have an opinion about that ...

As for the "slab" track acreage, I'm sure there'll be a good reason - I can think of a couple !

 

Could you please elaborate on this? If there's a good reason for it then fair enough, but I worry that it will further erode the historic atmosphere of the station, which has already suffered heavily in recent decades...

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Did anyone else notice that in image 723366, the sleepers on the plain line renewal were plastic sleepers?
I can accept those more than concrete slab track, they look OK when buried in ballast and will outlast anything else used in the track. Unless the slab track is on well compacted foundations and has steel reinforcements, I fear it may start cracking within a year as it looks a bit shallow.... I hope the work is strong enough and my comments are unfounded.

Cheers. Neil

 

ISTR something about them putting in a crossing to give coal deliveries better access to the coal stage .... but it was awhile ago and I may have it wrong! The contractors, Auldyn Construction have done a lot of work on the Island's railways and I'm pretty sure I saw reinforcement going in.
Ray.

 

What concerns me about the Slab area, is the amount of unsupported rail. With the increase in the chair / Baseplate spacing.
Or is there more concrete to be poured filling in the under rail areas?

 

Hi Bryan, The area outside the shed and workshops was previously concreted up to rail level and there's a lot of concrete still to pour. It was just a case of getting the station back into use ASAP - as it was services out of Douglas commenced half a day late. There are no trains tomorrow or Wednesday so the contractors should have it to themselves.
Cheers,
Ray.

 

Some footage from this year's charters and service trains around them.

 

Interesting to see a few views of Number 14 on the first episode in series 2 "the big steam adventure.

https://www.channel5.com/show/the-big-steam-adventure/season-2/lake-district

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Full details of the forthcoming Heritage Transport Festival (30th July - 4th August) can be read here https://www.iombusandrail.im/media/2996/2024-manx-heritage-transport-festival.pdf
The 2024 season is shaping up to be a busy one with lots of tour groups, cruise ship passengers etc. so much so that last Saturday one set was made up to 7 carriages, the maximum for one loco unassisted.
Ray.
Edit: Certain events require pre-booking here https://iom-railways.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows

 

It's a shame the NATS3 trips up Snaefell sold out so quickly, I was excited when I saw that, and despite it being under 2 hours from the announcement, still failed to get a ticket.

John

 

Is it still hoped that No.9 will be cosmetically restored in time for the event?

 

As far as I know that is still the plan. When I last saw No.9 a month ago the boiler was clad and ready to be dropped into the frames.
Ray.

 

Any updates on how No 9 is coming along?

 

But I got the last pair of tickets on the 2nd release. Woo! Now I just have to get from the 10am Douglas Workshop tour to the 12.55 NATS3 trip by public transport.

John

 

Hi John,
Congrats on getting your NATS trip tickets. There shouldn't be a problem getting to Laxey in time for your trip. The 10.00 tour will be out of the workshops a few mins after 11.00 at the latest to let the next group in. We'll then go to the signal box for maybe 15 mins. but you can always leave us at that point and return to the platform. The No.3 bus to Ramsey via Laxey runs every 30 mins and takes 28 mins. You can catch it at Lord St. bus station (c. 10 mins walk) at 10 & 40 mins past the hour (or a couple of mins later at the Town Hall) and get off at Laxey MER station. A few No.3's pick up at the side of Douglas IMR station (Banks Circus) when there is a crew change/meal break but you'd have to check the T/T at the stop before your 10.00 tour. Look forward to meeting you.
Cheers,
Ray.

 

No way am I going to miss seeing the Box, as a signalling engineer! So in theory I should be OK for either the 11.40 or 12.10 and still get to Laxey in just about enough time. Now I'm just going to need to get Dylan to get a shift on. (Herding this particular 8 year old is like herding cats, but slower)

John

 

The 2024 Manx Heritage Transport Festival is now in full swing and it has been great to see so many familiar faces at last night's welcome evening at Port Erin - the good weather helped too! Full details can be found here https://www.iombusandrail.im/media/2996/2024-manx-heritage-transport-festival.pdf
The first photo shows No.11 Maitland preparing to leave Douglas on the 15.50 to Port Erin. The special, celebrating 150 years of the Port Erin line and appropriately hauled by No.4 Loch, was due out of Douglas at 17.30 and is seen arriving at Port Erin. At Port Erin No.11 was posed outside the engine shed and the cosmetically restored No.5 Mona (1874) was arranged in various poses alongside her 'sister' for the many photographers. 1922 built Fowler road roller, still owned by IoM Gov., was in steam on the platform. Off to the Orchid line soon to steam my loco for the participants on the Closed Lines Bus Tour!
Cheers,
Ray.

 

Yesterday evening MNR No.4 Caledonia was in charge of a photographers' special (ex Douglas 18.45) to Port Erin and back. The train consisted of recently restored saloon F31, the Manx Northern Cleminson and the Foxdale Brake. It was intended to do photo stops at Port Soderick, Ballasalla, Colby and Port St.Mary with runpasts at Ballakeighan but driver Paul Rothwell really entered into the spirit of the occasion and every stop featured multiple runpasts! The result was an arrival in Port Erin well after the sun had gone down behind the hills but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Ray.

 

A few photos of mine from the last week, spread over the 6 railways of the island. I've made it a public posting so it should be visible to everyone, whether you do FB or not...

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/BLBTWtZ3zQjRK8Hy/

John