The island has retained two titles as event of the year and traditional tram of the year at the 2019 Tram of the Year Awards.

Nearly 50% of votes cast selected the Manx Heritage Transport Festival as the railway event of the year, with MER tram number 54 also cleaning up in the traditional tram of the year award.

Conceived ’as a bit of fun’ at the end of the year the British Trams Online Tram of the Year originally sought to find the tramcar which had done something ’special’ over the previous 12 months.

In announcing the winners, British Trams Online said: ’For the second year in succession the "Tram (Traditional) of the Year" went to the Manx Electric Railway with trailer 54 gaining just short of 50% of the total votes.

’With the trailer having last run in 1971, it was returned to service thanks to an overhaul completed by both volunteers and paid Isle of Man Railways staff at the Manx Heritage Transport Festival and proceeded to see regular use for the remainder of the season as well.’

The statement continues: ’Staying with the Isle of Man, and for the second year in a row, the "Event of the Year" heads across the Irish Sea with the Manx Heritage Transport Festival taking just over 49% of the total votes.

’With the MER again playing centre stage - including the return of three trailers including the aforementioned 54 - the five-day spectacular once again proved popular with voters in the awards.

’Since the "Event of the Year" award was introduced in 2012 this is just the third time that a non-anniversary event has been voted the most popular.’

The 2019 Manx Heritage Transport Festival ran from July 24 to 28 and included events on all of the government owned heritage network.

A spokesman for Isle of Man Transport said they were ’incredibly proud’ of the two awards.

She added: ’The tram of the year went to the restoration work on the Manx Electric Railway Tram 54. This tram has been lovingly restored by a dedicated group of volunteers and the support of our in house team of engineers.

’We would like to thank the teams for their commitment to making these original rolling stock look as fresh as when they were in service over 100 years ago.’

The 2020 Manx Heritage Transport Festival will run from July 29 until August 2.

This year also marks the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Snaefell Mountain Railway and events are also planned to mark the occasion.

The island’s trams have now won awards four years in row with the MER winning in 2018 for its 125th anniversary events and tram number 14 winning best traditional tram.

Before that, in 2017 Douglas Bay Horse Tramway number 36 also won the traditional tram of the year. The horses were also successful in 2016 when the 140th anniversary of the seaside attraction won event of the year.