Heritage route
Manx Electric Railway
Douglas (Derby Castle) → Ramsey · Isle of Man
Manx Electric Railway in pictures




Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 28 km
- Fastest time
- 1 h 15 min
- Average speed
- 22 km/h
- Operator
- Isle of Man Heritage Railways
- Countries
- Isle of Man
- In service since
- 1899
- Train
- Original 1890s electric tramcars
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
The oldest electric tramway whose original cars are still in service: 1890s tramcars on the coast line from Douglas to Laxey and, since 1899, over the cliffs to Ramsey.
The first section, from Derby Castle in Douglas to Groudle Glen, opened on 7 September 1893 and reached Laxey the next summer; the line got to the edge of Ramsey in 1898 and the town centre on 24 July 1899. Its debts helped bring down the bank behind it, and in 1902 a Manchester syndicate bought both it and the Snaefell Mountain Railway, the same year King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra rode from Douglas to Ramsey in trailer 59. It was nationalised in 1957 and is run today by Isle of Man Heritage Railways.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 9959967 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
Along the way
- Derby Castle, Douglas
- Groudle Glen
- Laxey, for the Snaefell line
- The cliff-top run to Ramsey
- Ramsey
How long is the Manx Electric Railway?
The Manx Electric Railway runs 28 km from Douglas (Derby Castle) to Ramsey.
How long does the Manx Electric Railway take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 1 h 15 min for the 28 km. That is an average of 22 km/h end to end.
Who runs the Manx Electric Railway?
Isle of Man Heritage Railways, with original 1890s electric tramcars.
How old is the Manx Electric Railway?
The line has been in service since 1899. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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