The Great Laxey Mine was an extensive system of mine shafts and tunnels, which descended to a depth of 2,200 feet underground. The uppermost level of mine workings, known as the adit, was a series of tunnels extending to a mile and a half, which entered the hillside at ground level, and connected the heads of all the working mine shafts. Within this adit level a railway was provided from 1823, to allow transportation of mined ores from the mine shafts out to the external washing floors and mine yards. The railway was originally hand-operated, with miners pushing small wagons. In 1827 a pit pony was purchased to haul the wagons, and the number of ponies grew as the mines expanded. By the 1870s there was a clear need for more modern motive power, and the two steam locomotives Ant and Bee were delivered in 1877. The mine closed in 1929. The railway remained in place for the following six years, but in 1935 all parts of the railway above ground, including the locomotives and rolling stock, were scrapped. In the 1970s the adit level was reopened and explored for historical evidence. It was discovered that parts of the underground section of the railway were still intact, and in one tunnel an entire train was found, abandoned underground when work in the mine had finished. The wagons were returned to ground level and restored. In the late 1990s momentum began to grow for the restoration of the railway's above-ground section, and in 2000 restoration work commenced. The restored railway was re-opened in 2004.
Restored route
The volunteers originally restored the railway's works and locomotive shed. Clearance of blockages and damages in the tunnel enabled the original route to be relayed to a point close to the mine entrance in time for the 2004 re-opening. By 2005 the line had been relayed into the old mine yard. Although the line runs past the mine entrance, the spur into the underground section has not been restored. Trains on the restored line originally departed from the engine sheds, but in 2006 the original station site at the Valley Gardens was cleared, and the two-platform station was restored, with the track relayed on the original formation, including one of the tightest radius bends on a working heritage railway line in the British Isles. By 2006 a majority of the above-ground section of the original railway had been restored, including a running line extending to in length.
Stations
Passengers travel from Valley Gardens station to Mines Yard station, near the entrance to the mines. A regular shuttle service runs on operating days. Both stations have two platforms, permitting the operation of more than one train at busy times. There are no intermediate stations or loops. There is one spur, on the washing floors site, leading to the engine and carriage sheds.
Locomotives
Following the periods of hand operation and then pony haulage, a pair of steam locomotives were delivered from Stephen Lewin of Poole in 1877. Ant and Bee were 0-4-0 tank locomotives made unusually narrow, in order to fit within the adit. They were 4 ft 9in high and only 3 ft wide. Their two 4×6in inside cylinders had Bagnall-Price valve gear and a geared drive to the rear axle, but coupling rods between the axles. The arrangement of the water tanks was particularly unusual, being a front tank ahead of the smokebox, in order to reduce width. The boilers were launch-type, as were commonly used for small locomotives with insufficient space between the frames for a conventional firebox. Around 1905, a replacement locomotive was considered and W G Bagnall were asked for a design. This was similar to the Lewins design, but more conventional. A saddle tank was used and conventional cylinders with connecting rods to the axle. The power cylinders were however mounted inside the frames and the Bagnall-Price valvgear and slide valves mounted outside. This new locomotive was never constructed, although Bagnalls did instead build two new boilers for the existing locomotives. Both survived the closure of the mine, but were scrapped in 1935, six years afterwards. Replicas of both locomotives were constructed for the re-opening of the line as a tourist attraction. They now operate the line, together with a battery electric locomotive named Wasp, which previously worked in a mine in Cornwall.
Table of locomotives
Rolling stock
The railway operates two passenger carriages. Owing to the narrow gauge and low clearances the bogie carriages are long and narrow, with passengers sitting on longitudinal transverse benches, and effectively travelling sideways when the train is in motion.
The railway's freight wagons were originally constructed locally, and took the form of high-sided four-wheeled open ore wagons. A full train of these wagons was discovered underground in the mid-1970s.
Six original ore wagons, now preserved in museum locations on the island.
Six replica ore wagons, built at the Laxey Blacksmith in 2000, in regular service on the restored railway.
4-wheel tipping ore truck, static exhibit at Valley Gardens station.
Additionally, some rail vehicles are available for use by volunteer permanent way engineers on the railway, for construction and maintenance duties.
4-wheel tipping wagon, convertible to flatbed format, unofficially named Freddy.
4-wheel light maintenance trolley, unofficially named Jimmy, built in 2006.
Single-wheel rail barrow - a single flanged wheel allows the barrow to be hand-operated along one rail of the running line. Liveried in engineering black and yellow wasp stripes.
At the upper terminus, linking the railway to the Laxey Wheel, once operated the Laxey Browside Tramway but this has long since vanished, replaced with a car park.
