Douglas Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

The Isle of Man is a financial Haven, a tourist destination for the British or over 100 years and it shows. The infrastructure is very good, the promenade in the main town of Douglas is several kilometers long with giant buildings ( England resort style) and some interesting landmarks including the old theater which they still use. In a way it’s kept a lot of of its 1920s charms with the old Steam and electric trains supplemented on the promenade with a horse drawn tram. You can buy a ticket for a few days unlimited rides on those old forms of transport which I really recommend. It’s so much fun going on a steam train or an old electric on the old tracks.

Douglas to Snaefell

from Douglas you can start your trip to the summit with a horse drawn tram, Clydesdales included. You can continue on the Douglas electric train to Ramsey or you can get off halfway at Laxey and go up to the summit, snaefell.

Horse drawn tram Isle of Man — The horse-drawn tram now only goes halfway along the promenade in Douglas to connect to the electric train. The other half of the Promenade which leads to the Steam train on the other end of the promenade is for walking and cars.

Electric train Isle of Man — Get off the horse drawn tram at the north of Douglas and get on the electric train to Ramsey

The Isle of Man logo

Original trains Isle of Man — Everything is very well maintained on these trains, Clean and seem to be original

Douglas view Bill Smale — A view going out of Douglas

Waiting for the summit train Bill Smale — Halfway to Ramsey you can get off at Laxey and take the electric train to the Summit which I highly recommend recommended

Water wheel Bill Smale — This is the old water wheel which I think is the largest one in the world

Beautiful farm land Bill Smale — Beautiful farm land

Mining areas — Going up to the summit you see some old mining areas

The TT rally is held here every year and is purported to be the oldest rally race in the world for motorcycles

Near the top — Almost at the top of the summit

Valley River — You can see a river which at one time was large enough to create the valley contour

Man-made lake — A man-made lake on the way to the Summit

Gelato shop — I had an interesting conversation with the Filipino fellow at the very delicious gelato shop in Laxey

Douglas building — An interesting building at the edge of Douglas

Self commentary — A car with a self commentary

Laxey to Ramsey

Small station — One small station on the way

Safety baton — On the way to Ramsey trains going each way will stop and hand this baton to the other train engineer as a safety measure to confirm each train so they don’t meet head on somewhere

Many train stations — There are at least 28 stations between Douglas and Ramsey but they only stop when somebody is waiting at the station or if somebody indicates they want to get off. This is very handy for those who want to walk around since there are so many walking trails on the island

Changing the ties — The trains have to share a track at some points and this is just one reason. They are taking out the old wooden ties and changing them with concrete ties for stability and longevity

Coin drop at the ferry — The coins from the island are exactly the same dimensions as those in England but they have a different logo and are not legal tender in England. You can just dump your coins in here at the ferry terminal or you can take them to England, change them at a bank or you can use them in England and hope that people don’t notice they are from the Isle of Man.

coming back from Ireland I wanted to spend more time in Wales and then I saw the Isle of Man which I knew from my childhood study of stamps and coins and so I decided to go there. This is an independently governed tax Haven among the British Isles and it’s a very beautiful island with interesting small cities and fascinating modes of transport which will keep you entertained for at least three days.

Getting off the ferry the Isle of Man — Arriving on the ferry from Larne just north of Belfast

GayetyTheatre the Isle of Man — This theater is still in use several times out of the month

Empress Hotel the Isle of Man — The Empress Hotel

Local beer the Isle of Man — The local brew was pretty good

Manx cat Bill Smale — The famous Manx cat with no tail

Normal cat Bill Smale — But this is the cat you see walking around

HQ restaurant Bill Smale — At the HQ restaurant I had very delicious salmon tacos and a crab croquette

Promenade Bill Smale — The promenade is about 3 km long reaching from the ferry terminal to the electric train terminal which takes you to the northern part of the island

The Bee Gees — I did not check why the Bee Gees are statued here

Rescue to — Two photos below this you will read why this safety tower was built. This might be a complicated harbor to sail into

Purple tower — The tower is beautifully lit up at night

History of the tower — The history of the construction of the rescue tower

War memorial — Of course you need to have a memorial for World War I and World War II

Map of the island — Douglas is on the southeast coast. You can take a electric train to the north, a steam train from Douglas to the southern port on the other side and there is another train which goes from the middle of the electric train line up to the highest point on the island. In addition there is bus service. You don’t need to rent a car here

The ancient Irish deer some of which were alive with humans. They call it the Irish giant deer because there were so many fossils found in Ireland

Old writing stone — One of the famous stones left from the neolithic period with the old writing system of scratches on the corner

Sound translation of the scratches — This is the writing system transferred to sounds which then can be translated

A translation — Another carving on the stone as a translation

The symbol of the Isle of Man — Nobody knows the origin of the three legs of man

The three leg symbol is used for everything related to this island

Old price list — An old drink price list

The TT race — I learned what TT means. It’s the famous race set up at the turn-of-the-century to compete with races on the continent

Yearly race — This race is held on this island every year

First racing motorcycle — One of the first motorcycles used

The local parliament building — The island Council building

A birds view — This war memorial gives birds a good view of what’s going on at the promenade

Category: Douglas

Isle of Man day 2

Douglas – the Isle of Man

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