Tynwald will be asked next week to approve £2.5m funding for the reinstatement of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway.

Supporters of horse trams will see this week’s visit by the King as giving a royal seal of approval to plans to restore the line back to the Sea Terminal.

King Charles III took a ride on a newly restored tram car to mark the line’s 150th anniversary.

In Tynwald next week, Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall will seek approval for funding of £2.5m for the Douglas Bay Horse Tram reinstatement.

This is to be funded from a transfer from general reserves to the capital financing reserve with £500,000 to be held by Treasury in capital contingency.

Mr Crookall told MHKs earlier this year that work to reinstate the line could begin within the next year.

Horse trams last ran to the Sea Terminal in 2018 before services were suspended during the £26m Douglas Promenade reconstruction scheme.

Services resumed in 2022 on a truncated route between Derby Castle and Broadway.

Plans to restore the line to the Sea Terminal were paused in 2021 after funding of £750,000 was reallocated.

It’s a decision that has continued to attract criticism - most recently from local historian and broadcaster Charles Guard.

In what he called a video ‘rant’, he described the truncated line as a ‘withered stump’ and noted passenger numbers have fallen from around 78,000 a year to roughly 45,000.

In May the heritage railway’s chief engineer said costs had risen to just under £2m including a 10% contingency.

And then in June, Treasury Minister Chris Thomas defended a decision to increase that contingency to more than 50% resulting in a revised figure of £3,036,170.

He insisted that the previous £750,000 figure related to a budget transfer approved during the Covid-19 period rather than a costed proposal for reinstatement works.