No.24 Betsy
Fleet No.:
Name:
Year:
Overall Width:
Manufacturers:
Works Number:
Last Operated:
Length:
Current Status
Name Origin:
No.24
Betsy
1959
3’ 0”
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.