Somewhere in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland, lies the Isle of Man. Douglas is the capital and largest town on the island. A busy working harbour and business centre, it’s also a popular tourist destination where visitors enjoy horse-drawn tram rides along the town’s waterfront.
The famous, Douglas Bay Horse Tramway has been operating since 1876 and is the oldest horse drawn tramway in the world. The horses themselves are referred to as ‘Trammers’. At the beginning of 2025, there were 5 foals and 18 mature horses either working already or in training.
1. If the range in birth years is 11, in what year was Mary born?
2. What is the mode of this group of numbers?
The tram line runs the length of the town’s waterfront and is 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long.
The horses complete no more than three return journeys each day. The trams move on roller bearings so the horse only has to trot along in front, giving just the occasional pull to keep the trams moving.
Science Talk – roller bearings: Things roll better than they slide. The wheels on a car are like big roller bearings. If cars moved on something like skis instead of wheels, a car would be a lot more difficult to move. That is because when things slide, the friction between them causes a force that tends to slow them down. But if the two surfaces can roll over each other, in this case the tram moving on the metal tram line, the friction is greatly reduced and the tram moves much more easily so the horses don’t have to work so hard!
3. When a horse completes their days work, and has made three return journeys, how far have they travelled?
There are three different possible schedules. The times below show a list of departure times from one schedule for trams leaving Derby Castle:
09:05 09:35 ? 10:35 11:05 11:35
4. Using this schedule, how often do the trams leave Derby Castle?
5. What time would the tram after the 09:35 ride leave Derby Castle?
Villa Marina is the stop at the other end of the line. A different timetable shows the tram leaving Villa Marina at the following times,
16:10 16:25 16:40 16:55 ?
6. Using this different timetable, how often do the trams leave Villa Marina?
7. What time would the next tram leave Villa Marina?
It takes the horses about 1/4 hour to pull a tram from one end of the line to the other. Passengers can get on and off the tram at any point during the journey.
8. How many minutes does an average one way journey last?
9. If a horse works three return journeys, how many hours in total are they pulling a tram?
See pictures and learn more about the Trammer horses here.
Check out the video to see the horses as they go about their work on waterfront of the historic town of Douglas.
Answers:
1. If the range in birth years is 11, in what year was Mary born?
2018 − 11 = 2007. Mary was born in 2007.
2. What is the mode of this group of numbers? 2015. The mode is the number which appears most often in a set of numbers.
3. When a horse completes their days work, and has made three return journeys, how far have they travelled?
Imperial Answer: (1.6 miles × 2) × 3 = 9.6 miles. A horse will travel 9.6 miles altogether.
Metric Answer: (2.6 km × 2) × 3 = 15.6 km. A horse will travel 15.6 km altogether.
4. How often do the trams leave Derby Castle?
Answer: Trams leave Derby Castle every 30 minutes.
5. What time would the tram after the 09:35 ride leave Derby Castle?
Answer: 10:05
6. Using this different timetable, how often do the trams leave Villa Marina? The trams leave every 15 minutes.
7. What time would the next tram leave Villa Marina? The next tram would leave at 17:10.
8. How many minutes does an average one way journey last?
Answer: 1/4 × 60 minutes (number of minutes in an hour) = 15 minutes. An average journey lasts 15 minutes.
9. If a horse works three return journeys, how many hours in total are they pulling a tram?
Answer:
Step 1: 15 minutes × 6 (number of one way journeys in three return trips) = 90 minutes.
Step 2: 90 minutes ÷ 60 (number of minutes in an hour) = 1.5 hours. A horse spends one an a half hours actually pulling the tram.
Common Core:
4.OA.A.3 Solve multistep word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations
4.OA.C Generate and analyze patterns.
4.NF.B.4 – Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.
4.NF.C.6 Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100.
5.NBT.A.3a – Compare decimals and fractions
5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert minutes to hours), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.
Photos:
A horse tram in Douglas, Isle Of Man; Public Domain
A horse tram passes a pedestrian crossing on Douglas promenade; Public Domain
