Busy Start to Transport Festival
27 July 2023
Manx Heritage Transport Festival - Busiest in living memory
The crowds have certainly made their presence known across the island at this year's Heritage Transport Festival celebrating the Year of the Railways.
The Island's railways have been running to capacity since the festival began last Sunday and Groudle is no exception.
For our Wednesday running from 11am to 9pm, we seen the busiest standard running day on record with Otter and Polar Bear in constant service will full trains.
There is more to come:
Saturday 29th July
11am to 4:30pm - Victorian Day: The rare chance to experience Sea Lion in service with her original Victorian rake of coaches.
Sunday 30th July
11am to 4:30pm - GALA DAY
- Everything that moves will be out. Up to 7 locomotives in service from steam to diesel and electric.
Along with our popular Cliff Top Tea rooms proving popular, our NEW for 2023 souvenir shops at Lhen Coan has proved popular with its range of Groudle clothing and also the largest collection of railway books and ephemera you will find on the Isle of Man, including a lot of rare second hand titles. So make sure you pay it a visit.
As the years pass by we notice a steady increase in the interest in our relatively modern locomotives... the 1920s Battery Electric Polar Bear and the 1940s / 1950s diesel locomotives. As volunteers we always look forward to the annual Diesel Electric day which helps kick start the summer season in early May. Our Hudson Hunslet diesel locomotive Walrus of 1952 was missing this year as she is under full rebuild, but her sister Dolphin saw passenger service alongside the Baguley diesel locomotive of 1947 Maltby (known as the Hi-De-Hi locomotive.) Our replica Battery Electric locomotive Polar Bear is always a popular locomotive, especially with her Groudle heritage... and we didn't want to disappoint steam fans, so the day saw Sea Lion operating aswell to offer a two train service passing at the loop and providing a great comparison between the different types of motive power.
Always a great kick start to the season after the long winter months... the welcome arrival of the Easter Bunny at Groudle Glen. The weather played ball for pretty much all of the 2025 event (we'll ignore first thing Monday morning!) Sea Lion and Brown Bear were in service operating an intensive three coach service on both Easter Sunday and Monday between 10am and 4:30pm taking families from the secluded glen, along the line to help spot some of the Easter Bunny's eggs hidden along the line out to Sea Lion Rocks Tea Rooms. Upon arrival the Easter Bunny had chocolate eggs for all the children and had time for everyone to have a souvenir photo taken aswell before enjoying free tea, coffee and orange juice in the cafe with lots of other sumptuous delights on offer. Congratulations to Mat, Zack and Elijah who were picked at random from all the correct entries to win the Easter Egg Hunt prizes which included a £100 voucher from the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, a £100 voucher from Walton's Direct, a £50 Tynwald Mills voucher a big Easter Bunny teddy and a free family pass for the railway for the season. Steam Trains and the tea rooms are now operating every Sunday from 11am to 4:30pm.
Santa paid his annual visit to Groudle Glen Railway in the two weekends prior to Christmas and brought a festive winter wonderland with him with record numbers of families visiting to make magical memories. Sea Lion, Brown Bear and Otter were in service over both weekends, with the new Tinsel Trams operating for the first time this year brining people from Douglas and the free Bus Vannin shuttle bus transporting people to North Pole Halt at Groudle Beach. Also for the first time visitors were able to have their photo taken with Santa's Elves and download it specifically in high quality from a QR code. Hot Chocolate, cookies, tea, coffee, orange juice, mulled punch and mince pies were also available in abundance, but the big man in the red suit was the main attraction and he distributed quality gifts to hundreds of children ahead of the big day. On Boxing Day when the excesses of Christmas were over, hundred of visitors attended the Mince Pie Trains to blow the cobwebs away and enjoy the festive atmosphere when Santa and his team had retired to the North Pole for a rest. The railway now looks ahead to 2025... with tickets being on sale shortly for our popular Easter Bunny Trains and the popular steam teas already available for booking for the 2025 season.
