Manx Electric Railway Online

Car No.32 at Ramsey Parsonage Road, August 2021. © Alex Fairlie

History

The penultimate car delivered to the M.E.R, No.32 was built by the United Electric Car Company in Preston in 1906. Along with Car No.33, No.32 was the final development of the M.E.R ‘toastrack’ design started with the No.14-18 series in 1898, and incorporated several unique features, fitted with Brill 27CX Trucks and four G.E 27.5hp traction motors, making No.32 (as well as No.33) the most powerful Cars in the fleet. No.32 is one of the few cars that has a ‘regular’ allocated trailer, in No.62, also delivered in 1906. An interesting anecdote is that both No.32 and No.33 are wired in the opposite direction to the rest of the M.E.R motors, giving reason to assume that the Cars were delivered onto the M.E.R the ‘wrong way round’.

No.32 has had very few modifications since delivery, gaining K12 Controllers to replace it’s previously carried K11s in 1948, and replacement electrical equipment in 1964. Although the Car has remained in the M.E.R Red/White livery for most of it’s life, it carried Nationalisation Green in the late 1950s, as well as in 1979 for the Centenary of Electric Traction celebrations, reverting back during Spring 1986. From 2007 until 2015 Car No.32 was used by the Overhead Line Department during the calendar year, and as a result made only occasional appearances in passenger service, but now has returned to the general running fleet.

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