As a result of the selling off six ‘surplus’ trams at auction in 2016, and the more recent transfer of cars 11 & 47 to the Wirral Transport Museum, the last horse car to remain under the unfortunate ownership of Douglas Borough Council was Bulkhead car No.35. As recently as 2001, this car returned to use after undergoing a major rebuild at no small cost to rectify damage sustained during a close encounter with the mobile crane on the promenade. For reasons which still remain unclear, the Leisure Services Committee of the Council felt that it was in order to remove Car 35 from the security of the tramway’s depot on May 6, 2011, for outdoor display, with no thought of providing any form of protection from the elements, at the Home of Rest for Old Horses on the outskirts of Douglas.
Predictably, this unsatisfactory state of affairs was not to have a happy ending, as it has recently been reported to the MERS that this tram which dated from 1896 has been broken up, thereby severing the Council’s last link with the Horse Tramway. Seen in better times, No.35 makes its way along Central Promenade past the Castle Mona in July 2008. (Photo: A. Spencer)