Upper Douglas Cable Tramway - History

History

Douglas Corporation, the local authority responsible for the area, persuaded the Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Company to build a line serving the hilly area of Upper Douglas in return for an extended franchise to operate the horse tramway. The line was built to 3 feet (910 mm) gauge. Douglas Corporation acquired the tramway in 1902 after the collapse of Dumbell's Bank and the section south of the depot in York Road was closed as it was felt that the gradient made it too dangerous to operate. The service was downgraded to seasonal in 1922. After the line closed, the tracks remained in place until they were lifted in 1932. (in contradiction to this source however road works in the past - 1980's - revealed some of the rails buried well under the modern road surface, in addition in Waverley Road on the Depot Entrance a set of tramway rails and points remain, however this may actually be from the time that the depot was used to service the horsetrams - they were towed up to the depot using double decker buses). In January 2000, work in connection with the IRIS scheme unearthed the terminal cable pit at Broadway.

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