Road, Rail, Sea and Air
The Manx Electric Railway Society welcomes letters and emails of interest to readers of Manx Transport Review and users of its website. Nom de plume may be used if there is no other way of protecting the guilty/innocent. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Manx Electric Rail…
Snaefell Mountain Railway car 4 has for some time been undergoing rebuild and overhaul at the line's Laxey depot. With work seemingly being almost complete, car 4 was spotted out on the line on 3rd August 2017 (the day prior to a runaway incident involving sister car 2) presumably undergoing testin…
"The Department of Infrastructure's been accused of covering up incidents on its trams by a campaigning charity." “The Manx Electric Railway Society says it's concerned by the latest reports of a runaway tram last week. Julian Nutter says it's the latest in a worrying string of incidents the MER So…
Police should investigate claims an "out of control" tram crossed a road "at speed [and] at right angles to the traffic", a railway society has said. “Passengers claimed the Snaefell Mountain Railway tram crossed the A18 at about 15:30 BST on 4 August. The railway was temporarily shut for a health…
Trials resolve brake monitoring issue "The Snaefell Mountain Railway is operating again, after trams were halted last night (10 Aug) amid safety concerns. Health and safety inspectors suspended the service when trams exceeded a reduced maximum speed limit of 8 miles per hour - which had been impose…
"An accident investigation into an earlier runaway tram incident found there were defects with mechanisms on both parking brakes. Vintage Snaefell tram no.3 was completely destroyed in March last year when it left the Summit station unmanned and uncontrolled, and travelled about 1.75km before crash…
'There have been calls for an independent investigation into safety and maintenance on the Island's trams. It's after an incident where a Snaefell Mountain Railway carriage suffered from 'brake failure'. Emergency controls had to be used to stop the carriage, as it lost power descending from the su…
In the wake of recent developments and following numerous requests for technical background information concerning the re-equipping of the SMR cars with ex Aachen control gear in the 1970s, Mike Goodwyn's long out of print history of the line is now available to view on-line. Click HERE to view.
If you read no other railway book this year - read Mike Goodwyn's classic which has recently been updated. Click HERE to view this landmark publication.