Groudle Glen Railway
Wednesday 18th August 2021
Located on the Isle of Man, between Douglas and Laxey (near Onchan), the Groudle Glen Railway is a 2 foot gauge narrow gauge railway which runs uphill to the sea!
In this visit we see Brown Bear and battery electric Polar Bear hauling the evening services.
The line was originally operated by a Bagnall steam locomotive 'Sea Lion' (seen in the engine shed at the end of the video) built in 1896, joined by a second Bagnall in 1905 'Polar Bear'. 'Polar Bear' is now found at the Amberley Museum in Sussex. 'Brown Bear' was constructed as a new-build locomotive, a replica of 'Polar Bear', and was completed in 2019.
Alongside 'Sea Lion', in the engine shed we see 'Annie' a 1998 built locomotive to a Bagnall design of a locomotive from the Gentle Annie Tramway in New Zealand and 'Otter' built by North Bay Railway Engineering Services in 2018, to the same design as their locomotive 'Georgina'.
The last train of the day was hauled by 'Polar Bear', not the engine now based at Amberley, but a replica on one of the lines 1921 battery locomotives by Alan Keef in 2003.
www.preservedrailway.co.uk
(C) Lee Andrew Davies 2021