(All pics September 2016 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)
The Manx Electric Railway is unique in the British Isles, a 3 feet gauge railway/tramway that
combines roadside running, dramatic scenery, interesting stops en route and some of the oldest (and the oldest!) tramcars still running in regular service worldwide.The best way to reach the line's Douglas terminus at Douglas Castle is to use the horse trams which provide the most intensive service along the promenade, the buses are far less common and not near as much fun!
Trains run basically every hour and leave Douglas via a dramatic cliffside climb, before turning inland on roadside tracks through lovely countryside, reaching Laxey via more clifftop running in about half an hour. Here trains/trams connect with the Snaefell Mountain Tramway (a railway!) and in summer there are 18" trains towards the Lady Isabella waterwheel a little up the valley.
Beyond Laxey the line becomes even more dramatic, arguably giving the finest scenic run in the British Isles, before descending down to Ramsey, the island's second largest town, via the backs of gardens and a short stretch of roadside running in Walpole Avenue.
All in all one of my favourite lines in the world and well worth going back to again and again, even if very little ever changes!
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