No.24 Betsy
Fleet No.:
Name:
Year:
Overall Width:
Manufacturers:
Works Number:
Last Operated:
Length:
Current Status
Name Origin:
No.24
Betsy
1959
3’ 4”
Motor-Rail
22021
In Traffic
6’ 2¾”
Port Erin Shunter
From Nickname
One of two units both largely based at Port Erin Station, this model is used on a daily basis in season to draw carriages from the shed each morning and does not carry a cab; it has been on the railway since 1983 but did not see use for several years, it was overhauled in 1995 and since the establishment of covered storage at Port Erin in 1999, has largely since been based there.
It was built in 1959, for use at B. & S. Massey Ltd., a forge based in Hyde, Cheshire. It has also been used on the electric railway, notably during the Year Of Railways celebrations in 1993 when it was first painted blue; it was repainted last in September 2020 when the blue scheme was retained with red buffer beams and fleet numbering and name applied for the first time.
The fleet name was originally a nickname given to the unit by a stationmaster and it was not until the last repaint that it became canonical within the fleet, at which time it was also given an official fleet number following on from the people carriers and diesel-electric locomotive. It can frequently be seen on shunting duties at the southern terminus and on permanent way duties in the off-season as well as some stints on the electric railway - never let it be said there isn’t a blue one!
July 2021 and No.24 in its usual guise as shunting locomotive at Port Erin Station having brought out the rolling stock for the first train of the day, the 10.00am service to Douglas.
After the end of the season in November 2021 No.24 is seen shunting the Foxdale Coach into the carriage shed at Port Erin Station for winter storage, it not being used on festive services.
September 2019 at Port Erin Station outside the carraige shed shortly after completion of a full repaint; the unit is based here throughout the summer months as shunter.
Seen in September 2020 mid-way through a repaint in grey undercoat in the carriage shed at Port Erin Station; the finished livery was of all-over blue with red buffer beams
July 2020 and No.24 is in use shunting No.6 Peveril at Port Erin Station where the latter was being stripped prior to asbestos decontamination ahead of a full Association-funded repaint.
No.24 is largely based at Port Erin Station and can often be glimpsed from the passing trains as they arrive just inside the carriage shed doors in the summer months, as here.
In June 2019 No.24 is seen shunting a striken No.12 Hutchinson which had failed at Port Erin Station and was dragged back to Douglas on the rear of a service train.
The International Railway Festival events in July 1995 saw No.24 at Laxey Station shunting historic tramcar No.1 as part of a cavalcade, one of many special events staged that year.
In use shunting Well Wagon No.2 to Port St. Mary Station with the boiler from No.5 Mona ready to be reunited with the frames as part of the Association cosmetic restoeration,