Yes, I've been on holiday to the Isle of Man, and you are now invited to a week-long slide show with a few of the highlights. There is no escape, but I'll try not to be too boring.
We started with a trip to a new location to me, the Snaefell Mountain Railway car sheds at Laxey.
These took a little finding as they are up a very steep hill on a side road. It's not a public area, so there aren't any signposts, even when we arrived for a special event.
Finding the sheds, the scene you see was laid out. Two railcars, the tower wagon, Tram 1 heading off to the top of the mountain, and Car 6 under construction.
Our guide was the man who runs the maintainence operation for this, and the Manx Electric Railway, and he provided a perfectly candid talk on the problems the line had had, and what's been done to cure them. For those who don't know, the line lost a car which had been parked just off the summit due to some building work. Brakes not properly applied, it headed off back down the hill, until hitting a curve to fast and becoming matchsticks.
A while later, another runaway shot across the Bungalow Crossing at 45mph with the Fell Brake not working properly and a full consist of passengers.
Both were due to lack of maintainence - something now cured thanks to a new regieme which is suspect wasn't easy to force on the staff. The addition of magnetic track brakes now proves three ways to stop the cars and should ensure no repeat of these problems.
We were treated to a quick demo of the Fell brake on the bogie above. It's simple enough and can be lifted on and off by one person. OK, there aren't any shoes fitted at the moment, but the principle is simple, and should, if properly adjusted, work well.
Outside, car 6 is under construction. The new regieme won't treate this as a restoration, it's a new build and therefore has to pass current bus safety checks. The body frame is 50mm box section, hidden by some lovely carpentry. This proves a roll cage, and should see 6 being the one car that doesn't distrort as it climbs the mountain.
Computer modelling has proved that the car can take a hit from traffic when it crosses the road, and seats will no longer be screwed to the floor (there's some wonderful odd angles these have been driven in looking for wood) but fitted with bus-type tracking, which again, will be hidden.
The basic wiring of the rest of the fleet has been replaced with C-Bus wiring which, amoung other things, will allow for regenerative braking so trams coming down can power trams going up.
We were the first public allowed to walk through the car - and it's a stunning piece of workmanship.
If I'm honest, I'd expected this to be the least interesting visit of the week, and it turned out to be a highlight. The SMR has been through some tough times, but it looks like they are behind it and those trams will carry on climbing for a long while yet.
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