An invasion of dinosaurs would normally have people screaming and running away in terror but hundreds flocked to the south to get a glimpse of these prehistoric beast over Easter holidays

Isle of Man Transport held its second ‘Dino Express’ following the huge success of last year’s event held to mark 150 years of the Isle of Man Heritage Railways.

This year’s event proved another big hit with tickets selling out. Families travelled from Douglas to Ballasalla on the steam train and were taken back in time to the Jurassic period.

A smattering of baby dinosaurs greeted visitors at the station before a bus took them to Rushen Abbey gardens where an array of creatures scared and delighted youngsters in equal measure.

Old favourites such as T-rex and the velociraptor were on hand to wreak havoc alongside a scary-looking dilophosaurus and a more friendly ankylosauru.

Thankfully there were no reports of any young children being gobbled up by hungry dinosaurs and Isle of Man Transport took to social media to hail the event a success once more.

Despite some showers and wind during the five days, the event ended in sunshine.

After the final day on Sunday organisers said on Facebook: ‘Survival Sunday on the Dino Express! The last of our Dino Ranger customers have bravely ventured into Rushen Abbey and had a sunshine Isle of Man Railways experience while finding the lost dinosaurs.

‘Big thanks to our weekend IoM Transport team, loco drivers, Station Masters, loco guards, the Dino UK team and our happy customers during the five-day adventure

‘Dinosaur applause to Carolynn Greggor and her team at MNH and Dan Walker and his team at the Steam Packet Company.’