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Busy Diesel & Electric Day
May 09, 2023
Diesel & Electric Day - Great way to start the season
In a quirk of the calendar this year, our first running day of the 2023 season was our annual Diesel & Electric Day.
This early season event has become popular in allowing us to offer the rare chance for visitors to travel on trains hauled by our more unusual collection of historic locomotives.
This year all our historic Diesel and Electric locomotives were in service; The 'Hi-De-Hi' steam outline diesel locomotive Maltby of 1947 saw service on a number of trains, accompanied by the sisters Dolphin and Walrus of 1952. Dolphin completed a multi year rebuild last year and is in immaculate condition. We are currently looking for a sponsor for the £35,000 required to complete a similar rebuild for Walrus (if you can help please contact us via the contact page).
Also our Battery Electric locomotive Polar Bear saw active service on a number of services. She is a replica of the locomotives which operated in the glen in the 1920s in place of the steam engines at the time.
All in all it was a busy day of operations showcasing the Island's oldest diesel and electric locomotives in service and despite the overcast weather it was a well supported day. Thank you to everyone who attended.
The railway will now continue to operate on Sundays from 11am to 4:30pm with steam locomotives in action each week, more details please visit our timetable page.
For the second year running families turned out in their hundreds to enjoy the family friendly spooky atmosphere at Groudle over the weekend. Sea Lion & Otter were in service hauling busy trains from Broomstick Halt where passengers had been met by Mr Pumpkin, a spooky trip through the glen passing some of our cheerful ghoulish friends then arriving at Witches Hollow. As well as the warm and spooktacular atmosphere, families visited Jinny the Witch in her lair to receive a frightfully fun gift, enjoyed sweets from her friends and refreshments including hot chocolate with cream and marsh mellows and spooky doughnuts! Our thanks to not only everyone who visited us, but also the volunteers who helped make the event so special and for the support of Bus Vannin for the provision of the shuttle bus to the railway. Next stop....CHRISTMAS!
The weather eventually played ball for our September Steam Gala as the day started damp and overcast, but by midday the sun was thankfully shining and the railway was very busy with all three steam locomotives in service with two trains passing at the headland loop. Visitors relished the opportunity to see all three locomotives; Sea Lion, Brown Bear and Otter in service together all day operating an intensive service. Sunday services now continuing into October. Our next special event is the Hop Tu Naa Trains at the end of October which is booking only. Tickets available online.
We are lost for words for just how well received our Cliff Top Concerts event was this year. Considering 2024 has not been the best of summers on the Isle of Man weather wise, the sun certainly shone on Groudle for this year's event. It was a day of wall to wall sunshine and people flocked to the cliff tops at Sea Lion Rocks to enjoy the free concerts from some of the island's most talented musicians. This year they were treated to performances from Callum Rowe, Mine's a Shanty, Biskee Brisht, The Reveilettes and our traditional finale group; The Shenannigans Band. A three coach shuttle service was operated with Sea Lion and Brown Bear topping and tailing the service all day.
