Enthusiasts fighting to save the horse trams say more than 2,000 people have signed their online petitions so far – and their campaign is attracting support from around the world.
The Manx Electric Railway Society says it is dismayed that the latest planning application for the reconstruction of the promenades roadway will involve ‘ripping up of the horse tram tracks for good’.
Services on the historic tramway resumed on April 30 for the first time since government took over the loss-making operation from Douglas Council.
There will be a combined vote in Tynwald next week on a motion by Ramsey MHK Leonard Singer that no plans for the promenade or its walkway should be drawn up which include the horse trams until the long-term future of the line is secured.
The MER Society said the application by the Department of Infrastructure amounts to development within the Douglas Promenades Conservation Area and removes a large piece of the most obvious feature of that conservation area without any proper public debate.
It says it is not supported by any statistics showing the value of the horse tramway to the Manx economy as a whole and will replace the present vintage street scene with the ‘usual modern substitute, including traffic calming measures which would be wholly unnecessary if the horse trams were left’.
The society said the plan will cut back the tramway to the Villa Marina making it easier to justify getting rid of the rest of the line because fewer people can be expected to use it. ‘It will go from “Nowhere to Nowhere”,’ said a spokesman, who added that when the steam railway beyond Castletown and the MER north of Laxey were cut back there were no cost savings, but increased losses.
The enthusiasts’ group suggested there is a hidden agenda ‘motivated by dark forces’.
The MERS has set up two online petitions and says it has received messages from all over the world, with some so outraged that they say they will never visit again.
‘That this is a raw nerve is indicated by the fact that over 2,000 people have signed our petitions in addition to the other petitions in existence,’ said the spokesman.
The group is urging anyone who cares about the horse tramway to email the planning division or download a template letter from the society’s website at www.mers.org.im
It has also called upon the Manx people to put pressure on their elected representatives to ‘stop this folly’.