Ahead of the first official dining train of the season, next Thursday’s Pie & Mash train which will depart Douglas Station at 7.00pm raising the curtain on a whole season of dining services, M.N.Ry. No.4 Caledonia headed a dry run of the train on the evening of Friday 31st March for the journey to Port Erin and return.  The train is currently missing saloon F.31 which is in the workshops receiving attention and is due back in the rake later in the year.

F.31, progress on which is pictured below, will return to the dining train in the original purple lake livery with off-white panelling and new crests, copied from the original and featuring a smaller locomotive in the top section; fitted with a new roof and panelling, the carriage will be lettered and lined in gold with scarlet/crimson drop-shadow as it would have appeared on delivery with class designations on the panelling.  The “Torpedo”  roof vents will also be reinstated.

More details and updates on all locomotives and rolling stock appears in the Winter/Spring edition of our official journal Manx Steam Railway News which is out now and will be dispatched to members very soon; copies can be purchased directly by contacting the editor and from the usual outlets in due course.  The railway is operating over the weekend to the “R” timetable with No.11 Maitland and M.N.Ry. No.4 Caledonia both in traffic.