Isle of Man Railways says it is taking steps to reduce the risk of lineside fires caused by sparks from steam locomotives.

Services were delayed by an hour on Sunday following a trackside fire at Santon and there was a similar fire at Colby midweek.

IoM Railways said it has been extremely conscious of the impact of the dry weather and has been in close contact with the Fire and Rescue Service for a number of weeks.

It said: ’It is important to balance the safety risks against the enjoyment experienced by the increasing number of passengers at a very busy time of the season.’

Staff are equipped with back packs and the permanent way team operates a fire train which is now based at Santon, half way along the line, to speed up response times.

Drivers are working to a more restricted regime to reduce the likelihood of sparks and teams have been tasked to ’shadow’ any particularly heavy trains with a correspondingly higher potential risk of fire.

All steam locomotives in service are fitted with spark arrestors.

Isle of Man Railways added: ’These additional measures and the close working relationship with the fire service help to reduce the incidence of lineside fires and minimise the impact on customers, staff and the general public.’