Volunteers from the island’s heritage transport railways say their online virtual festival achieved a reach of nearly 500,000 views.

After the Heritage Transport Festival was cancelled due to Covid-19, the volunteers of the railways and Isle of Man Transport organised a virtual festival on Facebook.

It was hosted by Isle of Man Heritage Railways Volunteers, Manx Electrical Railway Online, Groudle Glen Railway, Crogga Valley Railway, Manx Steam and Model Engineering Club and Douglas Bay Horsetram Online.

Throughout the five-day festival, the volunteers arranged to show archive footage and pictures, give virtual shed tours, access to hidden places like the clock tower at Douglas train station and inside the Royal Carriage, ’walks’ along closed lines, a look around the new horse tram depot, live streaming events and even a concert with Rushen Silver Band.

Between the various supporter and volunteer groups, their posts achieved a total reach of just under 500,000 views worldwide, with the steam railway volunteers’ posts alone achieving a reach of over 200,000 views from 27,800 people with more than 35,900 interactions.