M.N.Ry. Carriage No.2 (N.41)
As supplied this was identical to No.1 but was stripped of its first class interior in 1903 after the delivery of the bogie stock from Hurst Nelson, with one of the partitions removed making two unequal compartments. The larger of the two made it popular with butchers travelling to the mart on Mondays, a convivial atmosphere being enjoyed leading to it becoming known as the “Butchers’ Coach”. In 1964 it was removed from its underframes and placed on the plinth outside the workshops at Douglas Station to be used as a crew mess or “bothy” (replacing No.12 which was scrapped), where it remained until 1999 when it was taken off-site for storage; it spent a period in the former Road Services depot at Homefield Garage until this space was vacated, when it returned to home metals, being placed on a bogie runner and stored in Douglas yard; happily in 2009 it was returned to its original position and is now used as a store, being very much part of the look of the yard. It was painted into the purple lake colours scheme with off-white upper panels and it original fleet designations. A further repaint in 2023 saw the vehicle repainted into the post-war red scheme with the later fleet numbering applied.
Original No.:
Later No.:
Built:
Width:
Builders:
Length:
Wheel Dia.:
Wheelbases:
M.N.Ry. No.2
I.M.R. N.41
1879
6’ 9”
Swansea
30’ 0”
2’ 3”
24’ 0”
Above: none of the six-wheelers survived in use after the second world war, but were stored out of use, first at Ramsey Station in the carriage shed and then at St. John's on a spur laid to the side of the carriage shed known as Harry Cubbon's wing; this rendering imagines the unlikely scenario that the carriages remained in use and had the standard post-war red and cream livery applied to them, making a marked difference from the bogie stock. It is even less likely that the roof-mounted oil lamp housings would have remained in situ but these have been retained for context.
(Photo: I.o.M.S.R.S.A.)
St. John's Station
April 1955
Douglas Station
May 1966
Douglas Station
June 2021
