I once knew a Manxman

I worked with a Manxman. I was in my twenties and he was in his sixties. He told me he was a Manxman and I really had no idea what that was. He was a reliable employee in that he was punctual for work but he was terrible at his work. He would be in the 'office' every second day to answer a 'please explain'. I can't remember his name, but there were the remains of a handsome military kind of man. He was always perfectly attired and groomed, and quite a charmer. I've remembered his name now, Alf Vary. 

Right, so here is my and your edjicashun. 

Forty years later from Alf Vary, I now have a nice blogger (request to read) on board who hails from Isle of Man. I have a vague memory of seeing a tram video online with a stark landscape on IOM. So Let's investigate JayCee the Isle of Man. 

The small island between England and Ireland has historic rail transport, so that interested me even more.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that IOM is not England but a crown dependency. While it relies on England for foreign affairs and defence, it has its own government and its own currency which I expect might be more useless than Scottish pounds in England. 

I wanted to see YouTube videos of the railway systems but learning about IOM was quite interesting. 

It is both wetter and sunnier than most parts of England. Its population is around 85,000. The residents can have an IOM passport or (perhaps and) a UK passport. It has never been part of the EU. It has its own language, probably a dying language like Welsh. 

The negatives? I can't find the information now but as I recall the general health of its residents is not good, with obesity being a huge problem. It is a tax haven for some and a good place to launder money by others. 

The old ferry to England, The Steam Packet made its last journey a week or so ago, replaced on a sunny and warm day by the new ferry, the Manxman. The following day the weather changed it was judged the new £78 million ferry could not cope and the old Steam Packet ran the service.

The Steam Packet ferry from Shipping Today and Yesterday magazine. 

The new Manxman ferry from Wikipedia. 

 Douglas is IOM's capital and the next largest city is Ramsey. From southern Douglas to northern Douglas you can catch a horse drawn tram and then transfer to an electric tram to travel to Ramsey. You can stop off on the way the tram at Laxey and catch another electric tram to the top of the highest mountain on IOM, Snaefell. 

Also from Douglas you can catch a steam train south to Port Erin. A Google map image of the island. 

Photos from Wikipedia and the IOM tourism website. This is one of the tram models to travel between Douglas and Ramsey. 

The steam train between Douglas and Port Erin. 

The tram to Snaefell peak is unusual. Rather than using a pole or pantograph to pick up power from the overhead wiring, it has what are called bow collectors. With a steep descent from the mountain it has a very old emergency Fell braking system. I read a little about it but I am not much the wiser.  I think it is unusual to have two bow collectors. My theory on this that if one collector for some reason loses contact the other will maintain contact and ensure the tram's, a later addition, dynamic braking will work.