History
The tramway was built and initially operated by Thomas Lightfoot, a retired civil engineer from the English city of Sheffield. His service was introduced in 1876 and the line has run every year since, except for a period during the Second World War.
In 1882, Lightfoot sold the line to Isle of Man Tramways Ltd, which came later to be known as Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Co. Ltd. (IoMT&EP) and also owned the Manx Electric Railway. The IoMT&EP went into liquidation in 1900 as a consequence of a banking collapse. The horse tramway was sold by the liquidator to Douglas Corporation, which took over the services in 1902.
Since 1927 the service has run in summer only and it remains in place as one of the most distinctive features of the island's tourist market. The tramway is now owned and operated by the Douglas Borough Council, as successor to Douglas Corporation.
Other transport services now long since closed around the island's capital include the Falcon Cliff Lift, Cunningham's Camp Escalator, Douglas Head Funicular Railway and the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway.
Read more about this topic: Douglas Bay Horse Tramway
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
—Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (18221888)
“There is no example in history of a revolutionary movement involving such gigantic masses being so bloodless.”
—Leon Trotsky (18791940)