Isle of Man Steam Railway, 1974
The 46 mile, 3ft gauge railway was opened in stages from 1873 by the Isle of Man Rly (to Peel and Port Erin) and the Manx Northern (to Ramsey). It carried more than one million passengers in 1957, but had then suffered a dramatic decline. It closed completely in January 1966, reopened in June 1967, but closed again in September 1968. That was the end for the lines to Peel and Ramsey, but the line to Port Erin clung on, and celebrated its centenary in 1974 when Les Tindall took these photos.
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Nos 14 Thornhill, 3 Pender, 1 Sutherland, 16 Mannin & 15 Caledonia, Douglas, 6 September 1974. The railway was and is famous for its very long-lived locos and rolling stock. Almost all locos were 2-4-0Ts built by Beyer Peacock, including Thornhill, built for the Manx Northern as their No 3. She was sold in 1978 for private preservation on the island. Photo by Les Tindall.
