Fleet No.:               M.78

Builders:               Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co., Ltd.

Year Built:             1925

Status:                   Extant

Delivered as one of eighteen wagons that made up the final consignment of two-plank vehicles in 1925, this vehicle survived the Ballasalla Bonfire of 1974 when much of the railway's redundant non-passeger stock was scrapped and in 1978 shortly after nationalisation it was stripped and all component parts stored.  The foresight of the workshop staff paid dividends as the Mainland Group of the Supporters' Association proposed to build a new wagon oin 1996 when it became apparant that the sole surviving member of the class (M.70) was time-expired and would shortly be scrapped.  So it was therefore that the relevant measurements were taken from this wagon before it was scrapped, and the remaining parts of M.78 were removed from storage and the project began; further information about this can be found on our Projects Page together with details of the finished article.  By 1998 the wagon was complete and it has since entered traffic seeing use both by the permanent way department and on photographic charters and mixed trains.   In January 2012 the wagon was through vacuum piped by David Booth of the Supporters' Association, ensuring that it can be used in mixed formations with H.1 and Gr.12 as part of the railway's annual Rush Hour and Manx Heritage Transport Festival events.