There have been five cliff railways in the Isle of Man, none of which remain operational. Usually referred to as 'cliff lifts', they were all railways, having wheeled carriages running on weight-bearing rails. The two Falcon lifts served the same hotel at different periods (and in different locations); the first Falcon lift was moved to become the Port Soderick lift, at the south end of the

Douglas Southern Electric Tramway Douglas Southern Electric Tramway ( Manx: ''Raad Yiarn Lectragh Jiass Ghoulish'') was a standard gauge tramway between the top of Douglas Head on the Isle of Man and the nearby resort of Port Soderick. The route ran atop the cliffs and crossed ...

, with the Douglas Head lift at its north end. The Browside lift served the

Laxey Wheel The Laxey Wheel (also known as Lady Isabella) is built into the hillside above the village of Laxey in the Isle of Man. It is the largest surviving original working waterwheel in the world. Designed by Robert Casement, the wheel has a diameter ...

Locations and map

Lifts at the Falcon Cliff Hotel

Falcon Cliff was a large residence, dating from the 1840s, at the top of the cliff overlooking Douglas Bay. By 1887 it was converted to a hotel and entertainment complex. Two distinct cliff railways were built to carry customers between the hotel and the road along the sea-front.

First Falcon Cliff lift

The first lift was built in 1887 by Mr T. Cain, as a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

with two parallel gauge tracks. It was long, rising on a gradient of 1:1.98. The cars may have been water-balanced, or driven by the same oil engine later used at Port Soderick. The cabins had a level base (as seen on photographs after they were converted to kiosks at Port Soderick). The lift was under-used, and was sold in 1896 to the Forrester family to be moved to

Port Soderick Port Soderick ( glv, Purt Soderick) is a small hamlet to the south of Douglas, capital of the Isle of Man, once famed for its pleasure grounds and beach. In latter years there have been various attempts to rejuvenate the area, all of which have b ...

Second Falcon Cliff lift

The second railway to serve the hotel was built in 1927 on a different alignment to the first; the line started at the end of a short cul-de-sac off the Esplanade, and led to the other side of the hotel building. It had a single track of gauge, at an angle of 60° (1 in 0.57) or 41° (1 in 1.15). Powered at first by a 400V DC motor, it was changed in 1950 to a 415V AC motor of the same power. The line closed in 1990. it remained in situ, though overgrown and inaccessible.

Port Soderick Cliff Lift

This was built in 1897–8 using some of the hardware of the first Falcon Cliff Lift. It provided an easy route between the southern terminus of the

and the beach-level hotel and amusements of Port Soderick. The track was re-erected, again as a gauge double track funicular, but this time on a wooden trestle supported by stone pillars. Two new cars with sloping or stepped floors were used. The length was unchanged at , but laid on a gentler gradient (1:2.2) than at Falcon Cliff. It was powered by an oil engine. It closed about the same time as the Electric Tramway in 1939, and was dismantled in 1947–9.

Laxey Browside Tramway

This mysterious line was built in 1890 to allow tourists more comfortable access to the

. It was a double gauge water-driven funicular, running for at a gradient of 1 in 4 from just downhill of the Laxey Wheel to the valley floor below. The cars were in toastrack form, with seven or eight benches holding three passengers each. The floor of each car was kept level by mounting them on much larger wheels at the downhill end than at the other. It closed either in 1906 or in 1914 at the start of

WW I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and nothing now remains of the rails or stations.

Douglas Head Funicular Railway

Four years after the opening of the Douglas Southern Electric Tramway, this funicular railway was built to carry passengers between the harbour and the northern terminus of the DSET. Also referred to as the Douglas Head Incline Railway, or the Douglas Head Cliff Railway, it was constructed by Richard Maltby Broadbent, with two gauge tracks running from harbour level at Port Skillion up a 1 in 4.5 gradient to near the DSET terminus. It was powered by an oil engine. The tracks were not quite parallel but splayed out as they climbed to allow the cars room to pass each other; unusually, the tracks bent to the left (going up) a third of the way from the bottom. The cars each had ten benches, seating four persons, arranged in back-to-back pairs, and stepped so that the uphill-facing bench of each pair was level with the downhill-facing bench of the next. It ran only in the summer, closing during

and from

WW II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

until 1949. It closed after the 1953 season, following the closure of the DSET in 1939 and the introduction of a bus service to the top of Douglas Head in 1950. The tracks were lifted in 1955 to be re-used by the

Manx Electric Railway The Manx Electric Railway ( Manx: ''Raad Yiarn Lectragh Vannin'') is an electric interurban tramway connecting Douglas, Laxey and Ramsey in the Isle of Man. It connects with the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway at its southern terminus at Derby Castle ...

near

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...

. It is the only cliff railway in Britain to have appeared on a British postage stamp: the

Isle of Man Post Office The Isle of Man Post Office ( gv, Oik Postagh Ellan Vannin), which formerly used the trading name Isle of Man Post, operates postal collection, ancillary mail services, philatelic goods and delivery services and post office counter services on ...

definitive Definitive may refer to: * ''Definitive'' (TV series), an American music television series * Definitive stamp, a postage stamp that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service See also * Definitene ...

of 1988.

Notes

References

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External links

Photographs of Port Soderick

Manx National Heritage Manx National Heritage ( gv, Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin) is the national heritage organisation for the Isle of Man. The organisation manages a significant proportion of the island’s physical heritage assets including over 3,000 acres of coastlin ...

website
Photographs of Falcon Cliff

website
Video including many still photographs of Laxey Browside cliff railway

1980s video of second Falcon Cliff lift in use
{{Heritage railways in the Isle of Man *