The Lieutenant Governor and Lady Haddacks will enjoy a ride on one of the Island's famous steam trains this morning, to mark the launch of the service for the summer season, early next month.

As the guests of Minister for Tourism and Leisure, Adrian Earnshaw, they will be shown round the locomotive workshops in Douglas, before climbing into one of the vintage carriages for a short journey.

As the new man in charge at the DTL Mr Earnshaw (pictured) has been looking at all the sites owned by his department, and today's visit is part of that process.

He says he's very supportive of the Island's vintage transport systems and will be looking after them for as long as he has his present role.

He also has an idea which could see greater use of the steam trains during TT fortnight (audio file attached):

The new season for the steam railway starts a week on Monday.