Builders:

Isle of Man Railway Co., Douglas Works

Year Built:

1967

This oddity of the fleet was constructed in-house by the railway and featured in a number of Douglas Carnivals, being towed the length of the promenades by a tractor, often bedecked with floral arrangements as the accompanying photograph shows.  It was of plywood construction but featured a number of "real" locomotive components, most notably the dome, which was one of the steel domes supplied with new boilers from Beyer Peacock and retained by the railway.  For the carnival engine it was painted gold to simulate a brass effect.  It is assumed that No. 16 was selected as the template for the engine owing to the relative ease of creating the square cab in plywood, rather than the traditional "house" which is of curved construction.  Our thanks to member Robin Winter for allowing his photograph to be reproduced here.  Constructed in the summer of 1967 as a marketing exercise by the enterprising management that typified Lord Ailsa's outlookm it was outshopped in the new spring green livery.  Towed either by a tractor or one of the railway's road lorries with floral decoration as shown in the accompanying image from 1972.  It last appeared in the annual carnival parade in August 1976 and it was reported in Issue No. 50 of Manx Steam Railway News that "on the orders of the Chief Executive" it was burnt two weeks before the end of the season in mid September 1978.