OK guys, don’t know if this is of much interest tot he US scene, but here are some shots of the new season on the IoM steam railway, a busy day was had! The loco’s are all Beyer-Peacock (Manchester, UK) 2-4-0 tanks, they all look similar, but get subtly larger as they get newer! Oh yeah, 3 foot gauge. Accucraft do a really nice model of these in the UK.
Neil
Very nice Niel. Tell us more…
These are obviously tank engines. What is the fuel, oil? And where is the fuel carried; I don’t see any evidence of a bunker.
Jon
Are they Well tank locomotives? If so the fuel bunkers are on the sides…and the water tank is between the frames in amonngst the drivers!
No, the side tanks are for water. They are coal fired, the coal bunkers are inside the cab, in the rerar part of the side tank effectively, behind the last row of rivets on the tanks if you look closely. They don’t carry a lot of coal, they don’t need to , our island is only 32 miles by 12! The remaining line is 15 1/2 miles long, and is actually the longest remaining steam narrow gauge line in the British Isles. Please note I don’t say UK, we are not part of the uK, we have our own Government! The larger engines like in the last photo can do the journey on two good firings, with a good crew! The oldest of the engines is ‘Sutherland’ from 1873, and the newest ‘Mannin’ from 1926. Although the newer engines are almost identical in appearance, they are rather larger (in relative terms). The day these photos were taken was the beginning of the season, there were 5 engines in steam, the normal service at this time of year requires two, with four in peak season. Luckily there was a spare, as our inward jourey to Douglas with # 8 ‘Fenella’ was blighted by a lack of steam! we returned with #10 ‘G H Wood’, at a much quicker pace! This link http://www.mers.org.im will take you to the Manx Electric Railway ( Oh yes, we have one of those too, almost as old!) site, which has further information on all the Isle of Man lines, past and present on it. Manx electric at Laxey station…
Enjoy ! Neil.
Much enjoying.
Don’t stop now!
OK Tom, I don’t think anyone else is watching! Here is a shot looking the other way at Laxey station, with car 32 and a trailer going away from you, car 22 coming towards (a ‘winter saloon’), and the car on the far right is on the Snaefell Mountain Railway. The SMR runs from here, about 100 feet above sea level, to the very top of the mountain, the highest point on the island, 2036 feet, on average gradients of 12%. It is 3 foot 6 gauge, as the trucks have to be wider to accommodate a central rail that is used for braking on the steep sections. (not in this shot).
You may notice a transatlantic influence in the cars, some have American made ‘Brill’ trucks, just like a USA streetcar. LGB trucks are like this on the streetcar model…hmmmm…#project# !!!
We also have an 19 inch gauge full size replica of the original Laxey mines locomotives, recently built, which operate a short passenger line on the original formation.
I think these look like many a garden railway critter… Bored yet? Neil.
Neil,
Your comment about nobody else watching struck a chord with me , I used to get quite narked (on another site) about lack of comments , replies , whatever you like to call them . Then I realised that it doesn’t matter much about replies when you look at the number of "views"that come up .
Personally , I think your contribution is very good , but a lot of viewers would never have thought about the IOM , let alone its railways , because they simply hadn’t heard of the place . So rather than show ignorance (that’s the way they see it ) they keep quiet . Sad , but a large factor when you are looking for feedback which doesn’t appear .
So , keep up your good work as an ambassador to the Isle of Man ,you may even get somebody ask exactly where it is one of these days . So you’d better have a good answer ready .
Me ? I know where it is , we used to do navigation exercises to there (to RAF Jurby) from RAF Castle Bromwich
when I was an ATC cadet . We flew in Ansons .
Where’s Castle Brom ? What’s an ATC cadet ? What’s an Anson ? See , you can educate people .
But , nobody will ask the questions that I just popped in .
Keep posting pics , you will score many unremarked hits .
You have already provoked some interesting questions .
Mike
ps NO , not bored yet .
NEVER BORING…keep it up…I’ll buy the Single malt…!!!
I know…yes I do…IOM has very little to do with Single Malt…but I like the Scotch, and also the IOM, for it’s steel wheels on rail… (Cast Iron…???)…
I also find that Sam Smith's "Imperial Stout" is by far much better than that Irish swill that everyone raves about.....Sam's "Oatmeal Stout" is also a winner.....wish we could get them both, on draught here in Ottawa.....Almost worth a trip across the pond to get a real pint of them, and visit with Mikey, and Deryck.....
.....come to think of it; Deryck was supposed to drop in here one of these days.....Hi Y’all
Mike, the quip was meant to be light hearted, I should have put a smilie after it! I am well acquainted with how forums work, in the US as well as at home. I just like to try to put us on the map!
Funny you should mention Jurby - I live in Andreas, near Jurby, and in WW2 our church had the tower reduced in height to stop the fly boys learning to fly at Jurby from crashing into it! They crashed into Snaefell instead…
Ansons! I thought they flew themselves…
For the benefit of our transatlantic cousins, the Isle of Man is an insignificant rock 32 miles by 12 in the Irish Sea, roughly halfway between England and Ireland, population 76,000 - yup, that’s all… We have our own Government, and do things our way…which is often wrong…!!! It is still about 1960 here, long may it last.
We are lucky to have several railways of different sizes and gauges here, steam for three, and electric two!
NHN - ex fish head.
In the second picture of the Beyer-Peacocks…I love the safety jacket on the little guy on the left. And what’s going on with the other person in the safety jacket? Did he fall off the engine…or is he bowing to that god of steam walking toward him?
He’s an Umpa lumpa. Or a smurf. Or whatever the USA equavalent is.
We thought it was really funny when they put the hi viz jacket on him - health and safety nazi’s presumably, even here. Get em young…
The other one is actually a pile of jackets and overalls discharged overboard by the crew while they cleaned the fire, not a sentient being.
Unfortunately the forum software chopped all the right hand side off my shots - I’m not that bad a photographer!
Neil H
Great shots nonetheless, Neil! Thanks fer lettin’ us put eyeballs on 'em!
The first photodoesn’t show up for me, Niel.
Thanks,
JimC.
That’s odd Jim, they are all hosted in the same place (railimages), and it comes up here OK. Try right click on the red x and ‘show picture’ - you never know!
Other than that, no idea - I’m a nut and bolt marine engineeer turned youth justice worker - not a computer whizz. Actually, it’s a wonder any of the pictures appear, given my comptuer skills…!!! 
Glad some of you found these of interest, bit off the beaten track for you guys!
Neil.
Neil , I can see them all ,and particularly like the first one showing off a brass polished dome in some detail .
I put that feature on some of my models , it causes some comments about “they would never…”, so I shall print your photo and show it to the killjoys .
Anyway , as they say “my bat , my ball …”
One interesting thing about the engines in the pics , there seem to be no dents or dings ; even the best museum engines seem to pick up the odd wallop . Not that those aren’t “best engines” , but I think you will agree that either they have a good hammer and paintbrush man there , or they don’t hit things.
Whatever , the engines are a great credit to the Railway , and look better than some static exhibits that are around .
Mike
It works today.
JimC.
Glad it’s working Jim.
Mike, the engines are well maintained now, there was a point a while ago that some where getting a little moth eaten, but the goverment seems to have given them enough money to maintain them well now. ALL the Beyer-Peacocks have brass domes as far as I can think - only Caledonia (Dubs 0-6-0, the odd one out!) doesn’t.
In the past several locos carried different liveries, dark green lined out looked nice, I think G H Wood carried that livery. Mannin was blue for a while, or was it Hutchinson? Hutch I think - looked awful. Caledonia is currently dark blue, looks OK, she was a very dark maroony red before. In the 70’s Ailsa period a sort of LNER lined green was used, that wasn’t too good, don’t know if any of the out of service engines still have this livery. Basically all the locos still exist, although one is sectioned in Manchester science museum, and another was stripped to the frames for spares years ago, but the frames are still around!
Many new tanks and other parts have been made for the locos, thus probably explaining the lack of 110 years of dints and dings! They are a joy to behold. Lot of different whistles too, pip squeak, hooters, and a Crosby chime whistle!
Sorry, I’m wandering. Mid life crisis!
Neil.
…Keep “Wandering”, Neil;…your note was most informative and appreciated…
I always appreciate something new and these trains are in that classification. I suppose someone is working on a G gauge plan right now with one of these cute little engines.
Keep 'em coming…
Cheers,
Darryl, Accucraft do a model of two of these in the UK…they are popular models in all scales also. Our little railways here have a lot of character.
I am glad these were of interest to you. Makes a change from my New Haven layout!
Neil.