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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.
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.
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.
