IOM

Douglas - Port Soderick

If you were to holiday on the Isle of Man in the early 1900's a must for all holiday makers, staying in Douglas, would have been a trip to Port Soderick, which is a few miles south of Douglas. Rather than jump in the car and drive as you would today, you would have taken a breathtaking trip using 3 very unique transport systems. Today there are very few clues to their existance and it is only while flicking through books on local history did I stumble across this coasts interesting history.

Douglas Head Cliff Railway

View of the present day site of the bottom of the old Douglas Head cliff railway. Angled wall on the left is about the only sign left today	View of the area which used to be the top station. Closed in 1954 the concrete boudary fence post are still in place. The green box behind the bushes is a cover for the camera obscurer while it is being refurbished.
See links at bottom of the page for pictures of this line operating.

Marine Drive Tramway This was the islands only standard gauge railway. Closed in 1939 - never to recover after the war. One car survives as an excellent example of early preservation. Can be found on static display at Crich. Something to do with none standard wheel profile restricting from running.
Taken June 03 from other side to the postcard. Apart from pictures there is little to suggest a tramway ever existed.



Above; Littel evidence of the tram exists. The new road can clearly be seen cut into the rock to avoid the need for the bridge.	Above: looking down, the remains of the centre pier are clearly visible

My dad (David) on the collapsed section of the Marine drive. Modern works to the drive has left porous rock strata exposed which has contributed to the instability of the road, forcing the government to close the drive to raod vehicles.

Port Soderick Cliff Railway

Closed in 1953 and removed soon after you have to look really hard for the remains amongst the bushes that have grown up. Upon closer inspection both landing platforms, stone piers and a few bits of timber can still be found.


The path leading to the left is where the old bottom station was. There is now a path which leads up where the railway used to run.	Bottom station. The concrete wall has the remains of the steel roof sticking out. The railings at the bottom of the handrail are the original loading gates.

The path at the top passes the remains of some railings. After some investigating it became clear that these were the original landing railings. the steel on the floor being the rail on which the gate slid on. After fighting the bushes a second opening at the end of the railings became clear.	Curiosity got the better so I fought the scrub and climbed down off the old landing platform. Underneath the rotting remains of the bulk timbers which the rails would have run on are still clearly visible. The scrub was too thick to investigate up hill and any remains of the motor house. If there were any remains they certainly didn't rise out of the scrub.


The far loading gate way. Totally covered with bushes and brambles. Just think 50 yrs ago you could have been waiting here for a ride.	Looking down the path through what would have been one of the loading gates. the remains of the gates were laying on the floor rusting away.

Left: Port Soderick - taken from the top of the old cliff railway. Not much sign today that this was once a popular holiday destination.