Snaefell Mountain Railway, Isle of Man - tramcar No 2, 1995 - postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Snaefell Mountain Railway, tramcar No. 2 on northern shoulder of Snaefell during track inspection on Wednesday 29 March 1995 in preparation for Centenary events / photo by Albert Lowe
• Publisher:  Mannin Collections Series No. 10/2005 - limited edition of 3000 / issued for Manx Cover Club Stamp Fair
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s):  n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

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!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

The Snaefell Mountain Railway (Manx: Raad-Yiarn Sniaull) is an electric mountain railway on the Isle of Man in Europe. It joins the village of Laxey with the summit of Snaefell, at 620 metres (2,034 ft) above sea level the highest point on the island. It connects with the Manx Electric Railway (MER) in Laxey. The line is 5 miles (8.0 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 (during construction the Line was laid as a Mixed Gauge Route of both 3' and 3'6"" with construction work being undertake using the Six Coupled Manx Northern Railway 4/IMR15 Caledonia - the 3' third rail was temporarily reinstated for the centenary to allow Cale, now fitted with a Hydraulic Fell Brake to return to the mountain propelling an MER saloon coach). 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.

The main station on the line is the interchange with the coastal line at Laxey and this is where all departures and arrivals occur; the only intermediate stopping place on the line is at the mid-way position where the line intersects the Snaefell Mountain Course used by the world famous T.T. races. During race periods, trams terminate either side of the road and passengers connect by means of a footbridge.

• Laxey Station
• Bungalow Station
• Snaefell Summit Station

There is a spur off the main line above the lower station which leads to the depôt where all the rolling stock is housed and maintained; this complex was completely rebuilt in the winter of 1994/1995 and officially opened in readiness for the railway's centenary. Also in the depôt is a smaller shed which houses the Air Ministry railcars used to access masts at the summit during the winter months, when the overhead lines are removed from the top section of the line to prevent frost damage.

In November 2010 works commenced on a project to renew several sections of track on the Snaefell Mountain Railway. Works were scheduled for completion prior to the line reopening for the 2011 season.

The railway operates with six identical tramcars, all of which were built 1895 by George F. Milnes & Co., and delivered in time for the line's opening that year. Of note is Car No. 5 which was severely damaged by a fire on 16 August 1970 and subsequently re-built locally, re-entering service in 1971. It was distinguished by having modern aluminium framed ""bus"" type windows but these were removed and wooden sliding ones re-fitted during a subsequent re-build in 2003, at which time the tram became the first to carry the railway's name in Manx along its side. The current livery has been standard for over a century, save for a period upon nationalisation in 1957 when certain cars carried an unpopular green and white scheme. The original livery used until 1899 was a cream and Prussian Blue scheme featuring ""tramway"" wording (rather than ""railway"" which has since been favoured). With the extensive rebuild of Car No. 1 commencing in 2011, this car has been chosen to revert to the original colour scheme complete with original wording, the first time a markedly different livery has been carried by any of the cars since the abolition of the short-lived nationalisation (green and white) colour scheme in 1962. Until the addition of rheostatic braking equipment on car roofs in 1970 knifeboard adverts were carried on the roof tops.

type=printed

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)