‘Forgotten’ Manx Mona needs £12k to fund 150th anniversary display
THE Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters Association has launched a £12,000 appeal to return‘forgotten’ Beyer Peacock 2-4-0T No.5 Mona to public display condition after half a century in storage and partial dismantlement.
Working in partnership with Isle of Man Railways, the aim is to complete the cosmetic restoration in time for the 150th anniversary of its first line, from Douglas to Peel, in July 2023.
The cosmetic restoration involves sourcing a number of fittings which have been ‘borrowed’ for in-service locomotives over many years, reassembly of the locomotive, painting and lining out, and fitting of brass nameplates and a brass numeral to the side tanks. The association has agreed to buy one of the original nameplates for refitting to Mona and from which a copy will be made and also fitted. Both of the original nameplates were sold with the engine into private ownership back in 1978.
Arriving with No. 4 Loch in 1874 in readiness for the opening of the Port Erin line, the name Mona comes from the Latin term for the Isle of Man.
Last reboilered in 1946, No. 5 was a regular on the Peel line later in its career and remained in service until it was withdrawn after the closure of the Peel and Ramsey lines in 1968. Its last recorded mileage in 1964 was 1,896,370.
Still in its 1967 spring green livery adopted by Lord Ailsa in 1967, Mona was stored in the old corrugated iron Douglas carriage shed until it was demolished to make way for a new bus garage and offices in 1999.
It was relocated to a sealed tent at the back of the replacement carriage shed, where it sat until 2020, receiving no attention for many years.
During 2020 the locomotive was dismantled to enable asbestos removal.
There are currently no plans to return it to steam.
➜ To donate to the Mona restoration project, visit www.iomsrsa.org/ projects/no5-mona