Isle of Man Railway Locomotive No.5 Mona
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Isle of Man Railway No.5 Mona is a 2-4-0 Side Tank steam locomotive built in 1874 for the opening of the south line of the Isle of Man Railway (IMR) at Gorton Foundry by Beyer Peacock & Company. It was one of two locomotives ordered for the railway at the time, the other being No.4 Loch which remains in active service today.
Service History[edit]
The locomotive was built for the Isle of Man Railway as their number five and arrived with sister locomotive No.4 Loch. The name derives from a traditional name for the island. The last new boiler was fitted to the locomotive in 1946 and is still carried today. It remained in service until 1965 when operations by the Railway Company ceased. In 1967 the Marquess of Alisa took over the operations on the railway and the locomotive re-entered service in a new "Spring Green" Livery (inspired by LNER Apple Green) and was a regular performer until 1969 when a weak boiler saw restricted usage and it was ultimately withdrawn in 1970.
Post-Service[edit]
Following a spell displayed at Port Erin Station it was stored in the carriage shed at Douglas Station together with sister No.6 Peveril and purchased by the now defunct Isle of Man Railway Society in 1978 when the government took ownership of the railway. Moved when the carriage shed was demolished in 1999 into a new shed on the adjacent side of the line and later placed in a sealed environment together with No.9 Douglas owing to the presence of blue asbestos. In 2020 work was undertaken to decontaminate the locomotive of asbestos and in June that year it was moved to the former goods shed at Port St. Mary Station for these works to be carried out.
Cosmetic Restoration[edit]
In January 2022 the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters' Association unveiled their plan to cosmetically restore the locomotive to take part in the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Peel Line in 2023 and work by volunteers commenced shortly thereafter. Inj addition to cosmetic work a large amount of stripping down and overhauling of the motion took place while the boiler was out of the frames, this being reunited in December of 2022 for final works to be carried out. The completed locomotive will appear in the spring green livery.
Douglas Or Bust![edit]
The locomotive was in use on the final day of operation of the Peel Line on 7 September 1968 and photographs exist of it carrying a headboard bearing the legend "Douglas Or Bust!" giving rise to speculation that it hauled the very last passenger train from Peel; this is in fact a misnomer as the locomotive travelled light to St. John's to shunt away the display locomotives (common practice at the time) and the final train was in fact hauled from Peel by No.12 Hutchinson with No.5 added as pilot locomotive from St. John's into Douglas. The headboard did not refer to the final train, but rather the locomotive crew who had been informed their services were no longer required that year. The board caused some consternation among other members of staff and was removed at Crosby Station for the final leg of the journey.
Recreation Trains[edit]
to mark the fortieth anniversary of the closure of the Peel Line in 2008 a replica Douglas Or Bust! board was created and carried by No.10 G.H.Wood on a special evening excursion to Port Erin, for which the locomotive was fitted with temporary name and number to give it a similar appearance to No.5 (at this time the real No.5 was in storage); this was repeated to mark the fiftieth anniversary in 2018 with a similar train again using No.10 in its place. These events gave rise to limited rumours that No.5 had in fact been restored to service for the occasions which was not the case. The replica board is displayed with many other headboards in the Isle of Man Railway Museum.
Liveries[edit]
On delivery in 1874 the locomotive carried the standard fleet livery akin to Brunswick Green with black, white and vermilion lining (today carried by No.13 Kissack) which was later simplified to a single yellow (or "straw" line either side of the wide black line. From 1946 when the new boiler was fitted it was out-shopped in a new "Indian" red scheme, again with straw and back lining, this was the standard post-war livery. From 1967 it was painted in the spring green scheme with black and white lining detail, this being the new corporate livery chosen by Lord Ailsa. This was the last repaint of the locomotive and was retained until asbestos decontamination in 2020; when the cosmetic restoration is complete this is the scheme that will return, being the same shade applied to No.11 Maitland when returned to service the previous year.
Boilers[edit]
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The maiden boiler was in use until the first replacement was ordered and fitted in 1895, at which time some modifications were also made to the locomotive; a third boiler was fitted in 1907 and the locomotive rebuilt to a larger specification on arrival of its fourth boiler in 1914. It remained in this guise until another (reconditioned) boiler was fitted in 1936, this being the one originally carried by No.6 Peveril from 1911. The final new boiler was fitted after the war in 1946, at which time it also was fitted with a smaller cast chimney, as standard from Beyer, Peacock & Co., but retained its distinctive brass chimney numerals, the only locomotive in the fleet to so do. This boiler lasted until the final steaming, recorded as early in 1970, and is still carried by the locomotive today.
Idiosyncrasies[edit]
In addition to the brass numerals on a cast chimney as above, the locomotive has a number of other small quirks by which she can be readily identified; these include brass numerals above the nameplates (similar to those also carried by No.12 Hutchinson), though that on the drivers' side was removed in the 1950s. The nameplates are laid out as MO NA with a gap between the second and third letters, a trait also shared by No.4 LO CH, which was owing to the injector overflow pipe bisecting the plate. On other locomotives delivered both before and after No.5 the nameplates are moved forward on the tank to avoid this. The rear handrail is also of unusual design, curving in at the ends, a feature shared with No.1 Sutherland only. Work on the locomotive in 2022 revealed a small stud in the rear buffer beam with a raised figure '5' in it, believed to have been in connection with a step once mounted on the rear beam in connection with Foxdale Line workings; similar to other locomotives, the water tanks were heavily patched to prevent leaking in latter years, and these patches make each of the locomotives unique. In more recent times smaller components have been removed from the locomotive to keep the service fleet in operation, notably the grab-rail around the boiler currently carried by No.10 G.H.Wood.
See also[edit]
- Isle of Man Railway Locomotives
- Isle of Man Railway
- Isle of Man Railway Museum
- Rail Transport on the Isle of Man
References[edit]
- James I.C. Boyd Isle Of Man Railway, Volume 3, The Routes & Rolling Stock (1996) ISBN 0-85361-479-2 Search this book on
. - Norman Jones Scenes from the Past: Isle of Man Railway (1994) ISBN 1-870119-22-3 Search this book on .
- Robert Hendry Rails in the Isle of Man: A Colour Celebration (1993) ISBN 1-85780-009-5 Search this book on .
- A.M Goodwyn Manx Transport Kaleidoscope, 2nd Edition (1995)
- I.o.M.S.R.S.A. Manx Steam Railway News, Various (1966-2023)
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