Snaefel Isle of Man Summit Hotel & railway 1970s Dixon

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  Summit of Snaefel, Isle of Man - incl. Summit Hotel with train from Manx Electric Railway train in front.
• Publisher:  J. Arthur Dixon
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s):  n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes & Key words: **condition** there is a small amount of paper damage on reverse, not affecting front

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UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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The Snaefell Mountain Railway is an electric mountain railway on the Isle of Man in Europe. It joins the town of Laxey with the summit of Snaefell, at 2,036 feet (620.6 m) above sea level the highest point on the island. It connects with the Manx Electric Railway (MER) in Laxey. The line is five miles (8 km) long, built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge and uses a Fell Incline Railway System centre rail for braking on the steep gradients. It is electrified using overhead wires at 550 volts direct current, with bow collectors.

Services operate at regular intervals between April and September, taking 30 minutes for a one-way journey. There is no winter service: the overhead wires on the exposed upper part of the route are dismantled to avoid damage from icing. All passenger traffic is carried in six wooden-bodied electric railcars, built in 1895 and numbered 1 to 6. Car 5 was burned out in an accident in 1970 and its body is a replacement built in 1971 to a similar design. The cars were re-equipped in the late 1970s with new bogies to a design based on the original, using motors and traction equipment from withdrawn Aachen trams. Because of the different gauge and the centre rail, vehicles cannot inter-run between the railway and the 3 ft gauge MER. Railway vehicles are occasionally worked to the MER workshops at Douglas by swapping their bogies, and to aid this there is a dual gauge siding in Laxey. The railway is owned and operated by Isle Of Man Heritage Railways, a department of the Isle of Man Government.

The line was originally surveyed by George Nobel Fell, the son of John Barraclough Fell who invented the Fell system. This survey was for a steam-operated railway using the Fell centre rail for both propulsion and braking, and the scheme was approved by Tynwald in 1888 but not built. In 1895 the Snaefell Mountain Railway Association (SMRA) revived the plans, and adopted the route of the earlier survey. As the line was built entirely on land leased by the association there was no need for statutory powers, and the line was constructed very quickly and opened on 20 August 1895. The line was built from scratch as an electric railway without Fell traction equipment, relying on normal rail adhesion for propulsion up the steep gradients. However they are fitted with Fell braking equipment for use when descending. In December 1895 the SMRA sold the line to the Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Co. Ltd (I.o.M.T.&.E.P.), which owned the M.E.R. Doubt was thrown on this transaction in aftermath after the later collapse of the I.o.M.T.&.E.P., when it was revealed that the SMRA was unregistered, and that most of the board of the IoMT&EP were also members of the SMRA and had voted on the acquisition in contravention of that company's articles of association. The IoMT&EP went into liquidation in 1900 as a consequence of a banking collapse. The railway and the MER were sold by the liquidator to the newly-formed Manx Electric Railway Co. Ltd, which took over in 1902. By the late 1950s the company was itself in financial difficulties, and it was acquired by the Isle of Man Government in 1957.

Snaefell Summit Station is the upper terminus of the Snaefell Mountain Railway on the Isle of Man and is served by the tramway of the same name.

The line originally opened in 1895 at which time a wooden "chalet" type building was erected including a waiting shelter and staff areas but the increased popularity with the Victorian holidaymakers ensured that a larger, brick-built structure was erected at the turn of the century. It is this building that serves the railway today but it is in much-simplified format. The original building featured castellated turrets and was more Gothic in appearance but following rebuilds and, most recently, a fire in 1982 the building now presents a more unwelcoming sight to the traveller. Owing to the lack of public water supply to the summit, each operating day a tram delivers a bowser of drinking water to the summit for use in the small café there. There is also a bar (explaining the one-time title of "Summit Hotel" featured in marketing) but in more recent years this has not been open.

The building houses the café, bar, toilets and station master facilities; it remains intact today in a much fragmented form, having once been castellated but following a fire in 1982 these features were never replaced. It replaced an original wooden structure at the turn of the last century. The railway's operation being seasonal, the cafe and bar only open in conjunction with the railway. The Civil Aviation Authority also have a presence on the summit however and access it using a railcar which is stored in Laxey when not in use, there being no shelter for the cars on the summit. There are also transmitter masts and associated buildings on the summit iself, viewable from many mile around.