1896: A Trailblazing Tramway on the Isle of Man is Greeted with Both Delight and Curiosity

August 15, 1896

Operations began for a tram line in the town (now city) of Douglas on the Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea. (Douglas has been the capital of the Isle of Man since 1869.) The tram line in Douglas was among the first cable-powered systems of its kind to be launched in the United Kingdom.

The August 17 edition of the Bradford Daily Telegraph reported on the system’s debut. This newspaper noted, “The Douglas Cable Tramway, constructed by Messrs. Dick, Kerr, and Co., and amongst the few in the kingdom, opened for public traffic on Saturday, proved a grand success.”

The Bradford Daily Telegraph further stated, “Everybody was delighted with the undertaking, which was an object of curiosity to thousands of visitors on account of its novelty . . . The cars ran with remarkable smoothness and the testing of the brakes has been severe . . . Thousands traveled over the line.” This newspaper also confirmed that the tram line “was successfully inspected by Mr. James Walker,” an engineer working for the government of the Isle of Man.

This public transit network, which also became known as the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, remained in service until August 19, 1929. (The attached photo of one of this system’s tramcars traveling on Victoria Street in Douglas was taken in 1896.)

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Douglas_Cable_Tramway