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Isle Of Man Steam Railway

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by David Bigcheeseplant, Jun 11, 2016.

  1. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Pity there aren't a couple of railcars to test the water with! ;)
     
  2. marshall5

    marshall5 Well-Known Member

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    I was thinking the same thing myself. Anybody got about 150k+ to spare?
    Ray.
     
  3. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Don't I wish! Is 150 the current thinking or a guestimate? I seem to recall a rather higher figure a couple of years back.
     
  4. lostlogin

    lostlogin Member

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    I think Guernsey and New Zealand forced there hands. Once they cancelled social distancing it was going to be very hard for IoM Govt to argue that the IoM must retain at 1m.
    In terms of financial viability it does not generally bother IoM Government!
     
  5. D1039

    D1039 Guest

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  6. marshall5

    marshall5 Well-Known Member

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    Just a guess really. The last quoted cost (in 2016) was a little short of 1/4 million. This would have been for a complete, finished job but I believe considerable savings could be made by not shipping the complete units on/off the Island and, instead, dividing up the job between a number of specialists on and off the Island. Possible further savings could be made by utilising volunteer labour for some tasks.
    Ray.
     
  7. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    That sounds closer to the sort of number I recall. Perhaps someone posted it on here, but I saw a clip of the units in the station at Douglas in their final years in service. So much crud was being thrown skywards that it took a while to look and check if there was a steam loco tucked behind 'em, with it's blower on!

    Given how potentially useful these beasties would surely be for 'shoulder' and short notice workings, I'm surprised they're still languishing unfinished. Maybe, along with being 'not steam', concerns about noxious emissions from lumps conceived long before pollution controls were ever an issue play a part in the lack of progress.

    But for the fact that even finding an answer would take scarce resources better used elsewhere, I'd wonder about how the costs break down, between traction units (to sort of compare with a steam overhaul) and passenger accommodation (more akin to a carriage restoration). The old County Donegal clearly regarded railcars a good investment, but they were running a very different railway, in a very different age .... and I doubt anyone would prioritise them over any of the current work in progress, or even getting 'The Cabbage' up and running.
     
  8. Wenlock

    Wenlock Well-Known Member Friend

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    I recall a visit to IoM in about '89 or '90. It was during either the Manx Rally week or the Manx GP week.

    On one day there was a steam loco shortage, and a railcar was pressed into service at short notice. Having previously been relegated to p/way transport it looked a bit shabby, the guard was going along the train getting moss off the cantrail line.
    Riding in the carriage end and looking through to the powered end the relative motion certainly drew attention to the state of the track!
     
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  9. Martin Shaw

    Martin Shaw New Member

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    I wonder if I might offer a thought on IoM locomotives, which is wholly open to rebuttall, I claim no special knowledge here. Of the 16 locos acquired over the years, 2 and 7 have to all intents disappeared, No3 is in Manchester, and 14 is privately owned. 10 - 13 form the main running fleet with the addition of 15 because it's useful and different, and potentially 16 in due course. This leaves 1,4,5,6,8,9 which whilst interesting historically all need significant finance to run again with to my mind very dubious benefit to IoM transport. Whilst I and no doubt many others would like to see some of them work again as a WIBN, is there any practical necessity beyond long term storage to prevent deterioration, that would allow anything to happen to them.

    Regards
    Martin
     
  10. Rob Reynolds

    Rob Reynolds New Member

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    So it’s official, they are removing the asbestos “from some of the island’s out-of-use steam engines.” However, I find the article to be ambiguous about which locos are to receive the work. The article states that:

    “The engines, which include no.9 ’Douglas’ that was built in 1896 and no.5 Mona from 1874, will see the material removed under controlled conditions. They have not been seen outdoors for some time”

    The “which include” part would be compatible with Mannin being the only other loco included. Of course it could also be stretched to include others in accordance with the reader’s taste for conspiracy theories.

    Occam’s razor suggests that it is just a convoluted way of saying Mona, Douglas and Mannin; probably from a journalist who hasn’t memorised the railway’s fleet of current and former locos and their current statuses.

    http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=56145&headline=Asbestos to be removed from engines&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2020&cat=Transport
     
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  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Happy to be able to report, you've got No.4 on the wrong list, as the old girl is getting one heavily repaired* boiler. :)

    * not new, as per unedited post, so sorry for the unintended confusion. My thanks to @marshall5 for the clarification
     
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  12. marshall5

    marshall5 Well-Known Member

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    Actually No4 has had its previous Hunslet boiler, heavily rebuilt by the SVR, re-fitted and will re-enter service as soon as a few minor jobs are completed. No8 still forms part of the 'core fleet' although currently on a boiler extension. No1 has recently had a thorough cosmetic restoration and is in Port Erin museum. No6 is also cosmetically restored in P.E. museum and I should expect it to return there after decontamination. It is possible that another of the decontaminated locos, most likely No9, could be cosmetically restored for display so that only leaves No5......
    Ray.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2020
  13. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Could you please clarify Ray. Repairs aside, I was under the impression that one of the new boilers was Loch (or Mona) sized. Is that incorrect?
     
  14. marshall5

    marshall5 Well-Known Member

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    Not as far as I am aware - possibly the idea came from seeing so much of No4's appearing to be new. ISTR one of the SVR boilersmiths commented on here some months ago. Of the first 2 new boilers one went to Keef's for No11 and the other is currently outside Douglas workshops. Some work has been done on boilers 3 & 4 but is currently 'on hold' . I believe these are all 3'3" dia for any of the 10-13 series locos. Although the 4-6 series locos have 3'3" boilers they are shorter due to their shorter coupled wheelbase so are not interchangeable with locos 10-13. I don't know if a final decision has been made re boiler number 5.
    Ray.
     
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  15. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Cheers for that, Ray. Yep, recall you telling us about non-interchangability. I didn't know that so much as any official tentative murmuring had occured regarding No.5. For now, I'm just gonna keep everything crossed for No.16!
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2020
  16. Rob Reynolds

    Rob Reynolds New Member

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    And now No. 5 Mona. This is a photo from the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters Association Facebook page and apparently it was taken last week. I think @Mike Buttell manages the page
     

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  17. marshall5

    marshall5 Well-Known Member

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    IMR No5 Mona is currently in Port Erin Carriage shed awaiting its turn to be decontaminated. Mike manages the Heritage Railways Volunteers page https://www.facebook.com/hrviom/ not the IOMSRSA which is a different organisation.
    Ray.
     
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  18. Mike Buttell

    Mike Buttell Member

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    Thanks Ray, that is correct, my association with the iomsrsa ended some years ago.
    The Heritage Railway Volunteers had members on hand to photo the loco moves, we have not published any online at present.
     
  19. QuornYard

    QuornYard New Member

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    Can I ask what regulations the IoM railways run under please? As opposed to heritage lines in the UK? I ask because the impressi0on I've had is that both the steam railway and MER run trains at more than the 25mph limit I understand applies to UK heritage/light railways. In particular running down towards Ramsey on the MER can be a bit of a white knuckle experience in the open car - not dangerous but felt a lot faster than I would expect.
     
  20. marshall5

    marshall5 Well-Known Member

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    The IMR (1873) & MER (1893) pre-date the U.K. Light Railway Act and were built, and presumably still are, running under a Parliamentary Act from those times. It is well known that the Beyers on the IMR have run at 45m.p.h. in the past.
    Ray.
     
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