The year 2026 will mark the diamond jubilee of the Supporters’ Association which began life as the fledgling Manx Steam Railway Society back in the dark days of 1966 when the future of the railway hung in the balance.  From its earliest days through until the present time it has maintained a varied presence on the railway which happily today sees a good number of active projects and regular involvement on the railway itself.  Notably in the last few years this has seen the cosmetic restoration of No.5 Mona, full restoration of Van G.1, ongoing work on No.9 Douglas as well as various peripheral voluntary works at Ballasalla Station, The Level, Ballabeg Station and in the Railway Museum.  We have also revisited our works on No.6 Peveril and remain as committed as ever to the railway, aiming to provide further period platform furniture in the future.

Most recently we have been instrumental in ringing in the new year by organising the Whistle-Up event at Douglas Station as part of the Rail 200 commemorations and at present are working on the repatriation of the railway’s oldest surviving bogie Carriage F.6 which was sold off-island fifty years ago.  We also have further plans for this year but our primary focus is now celebrating the sixtieth anniversary in style next year, the clock is ticking!  And so at this point we would like to open the discussion with our members and visitors to the website for suggestions how we can mark this milestone and would be delighted to hear from anyone with ideas both large and small.  We can be contacted via our Company Secretary who will pass on ideas for discussion by the board.