A Douglas based horse tram has won British Trams Online, Tram of the Year award.

Number 36, pictured here being pulled by Steve the horse triumphed in the traditional tram category beating competition from Burton & Ashby, Blackpool, Bournemouth and Seaton.

Director of transport services Ian Longworth told the Manx Independent: ’Douglas Bay Horse Trams are a unique selling point for our island.

’I am pleased to see that the hard work and dedication of the team to keep this fantastic service running has been acknowledged.’

The tram, which was built in 1896, operated only on the last day of the 2017 service, had ’received extensive overhaul in the Derby Castle workshops of the Manx Electric Railway’ according to the awards website.

Despite this, 36 clearly proved popular having received 37% of the popular vote to secure the title.

While it is the first success an individual tram has won representing the island, last year saw the horse trams win two categories that coincided with the 140-year anniversary of the tramway.

The horse trams won the Tramway of the Year award beating the Midland Metro line despite the metro line being state of the art having only opened in May of last year.

The 2016 anniversary also won an award for tram event of the year, securing nearly 50% of the vote and again beating competition from Blackpool.

Despite these successes, the horse trams face large changes.

The latest proposals for the alterations to Douglas Promenade will see the horse tram tracks be re-laid to reflect the design principle agreed by Tynwald.

Twin tracks will be retained in the centre of the road from the terminal at Strathallan to a point just north of the Broadway junction.

They will then cross to the seaward side of the highway and switch to a single track terminating alongside the Bottleneck car park.