The line is 5 miles (8 km) long, is built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge and uses a Fell Incline Railway System centre rail for braking on the steep gradients.

The cars were re-equipped in the late 1970s with new bogies to a design based on the original, using motors and traction equipment from withdrawn Aachen trams [de] built by Waggonfabrik Talbot in 1956.

Railway vehicles are occasionally worked to the MER workshops at Douglas by swapping their bogies, and to aid this there is a dual gauge siding in Laxey.

This survey was for a steam-operated railway using the Fell centre rail for both propulsion and braking, and the scheme was approved by Tynwald in 1888 but not built.

In 1895 the Snaefell Mountain Railway Association (SMRA) revived the plans, and adopted the route of the earlier survey.

In December 1895, the SMRA sold the line to the Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Co. Ltd (IoMT&EP), which owned the MER.

Above Laxey station there is a spur leading to the depot where all the rolling stock is housed and maintained; this complex was completely rebuilt in the winter of 1994-95 and officially opened in readiness for the railway's centenary.

The railway operates with five of the original six identical tramcars, all built in 1895 by George F. Milnes & Co., and delivered in time for the line's opening that year.

[2] It was distinguished by having modern aluminium-framed "bus" type windows, but these were removed and wooden sliding ones refitted during a subsequent rebuild in 2003, when the tram became the first to carry the railway's name in Manx along its side.

The current livery has been standard for over a century, save for a period upon nationalisation in 1957 when certain cars carried an unpopular green and white scheme.

This was the first time a markedly different livery has been carried by any of the cars since the abolition of the short-lived nationalisation (green and white) colour scheme in 1962.

[3] The salvageable remains of the vehicle have been stored at the engineering works of the Manx Electric Railway, where it is expected that the car will eventually be rebuilt.

Numbered 7 in sequence with the other stock and nicknamed "Maria", it was used to convey coal from Laxey to the power station near the Bungalow, and traditionally borrowed traction bogies from other passenger vehicles as required.

1 which arrived in Air Force Blue livery, but was repainted into yellow and black (Civil Aviation Authority colours) in the 1960s; it has since been sold to a private owner and shipped to the UK in June 2007 for restoration.

[citation needed] On 30 March 2016, the unoccupied Snaefell Mountain Railway Car No.3 suffered a runaway from the Summit and derailed just north of Bungalow Station.