Isle of Man Railway

Isle of Man Railway
Port Erin line (highlighted)

The 15+1⁄2-mile (25-kilometre) line from Douglas to Port Erin is the last remaining line of the former Isle of Man Railway Company, formed in 1870. Its first line, from Douglas to Peel, opened on 1 July 1873, followed by the Port Erin line on 1 August 1874. Initially the Port Erin line had been planned to terminate at Castletown, but the construction of deep water docks at Port Erin caused an extension to the line. A few years after completion, the dock was destroyed by heavy seas and the idea of deep water vessels abandoned there. The remains of the breakwater are still visible at low tide.

A third line was built in 1878–1879 by the Manx Northern Railway, from St John's (on the Douglas to Peel line) to Ramsey. A further short line was constructed from St John's to Foxdale in 1885 to serve the lead mines there. Although it was built by the nominally independent Foxdale Railway, it was leased to and operated by the Manx Northern. The loss of the mineral traffic from Foxdale and competition for the Douglas-Ramsey passenger traffic from the Manx Electric Railway placed the Manx Northern Railway in financial difficulties. It was taken over by the IMR in 1904.

During the mid-1920s the IMR formed a bus subsidiary that operated most of the island's bus services, and helped the railway to remain profitable into the 1960s. The first serious examination of the long term viability of the railway came with the Howden Report in 1949, which recommended the closure of the Ramsey line, which was already losing money; the eventual closure of the Peel line, which was breaking even in the late 1940s; and the retention of the then profitable Port Erin line. Howden also reported that the existing equipment of the railway had an economic life of 10–25 years. Economies were made throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. These included the ending of evening and Sunday services, the deferral of track maintenance, and cuts to train mileage as locomotives became unserviceable. To further reduce expenses, there were winter closures of the Peel line (1960–61 only) and the Ramsey line after September 1961, but A. M. Sheard, the then general manager, refused to close the Ramsey line which by this time was losing a considerable amount of money each year.

Following the closure of the County Donegal Railways in 1960, the IMR purchased the CDR's two most modern diesel railcars, which were then largely used on the Peel line in summer, and after 1962 worked the whole of the winter service except when withdrawn for maintenance. The system closed after the 1965 season but was briefly revived when the Marquess of Ailsa obtained a lease and reopened all three routes in 1967.[1] Both the Peel and Ramsey lines shut following the 1968 season, but goods services between Peel and Milntown (just short of Ramsey) continued until mid-1969. Traffic was poor on the two northern lines, especially that to Ramsey, so after the end of the 1968 season, Ailsa decided to concentrate on passenger service on the South Line for three more seasons until he took the option to end his lease at the close of the 1971 season.

There were occasional empty coaching stock workings between Douglas and St John's in 1970 and 1971 for the retrieval of stored stock between seasons. During this time most of the early wooden framed carriages were moved to St John's, where they were lost in a fire in July 1975. The Peel and Ramsey routes and the Foxdale line were lifted in 1975. The IMR operated services between Douglas and Port Erin after Lord Ailsa took his five-year option, beginning in 1972 through the centenaries of the Peel and Port Erin lines in 1973 and 1974 respectively. In 1975, the Port Erin line operated only from its southwestern terminus to Castletown, but it was found that half a railway made twice the loss. The government sponsored a short extension of the service from Castletown to Ballasalla in 1976, and, after extensive campaigning during the 1976 Tynwald elections, the railway returned to Douglas in 1977, the last year in which the railway was operated by the IMR. Following nationalisation the railway has continued to be operated seasonally, for many years from Easter weekend until the end of September, more recently from around 1 March to early November.

Share certificate of the Isle of Man Railway Company Ltd, issued 16 September 1875

Formed in 1870 with the first line following three years later, the Isle of Man Railway Company operated services until 1977 (see below) merging with the Manx Northern Railway and Foxdale Railway in 1905. The railway is now marketed as the Steam Railway to differentiate it from the Manx Electric Railway, operated by the same department. It was marketed as "Isle of Man Railway" until closure in 1965. From 1969 to 1972, it operated as the Isle of Mann Victorian Steam Railway Company Limited, reverting to Isle of Man Railway. When nationalised in 1978 it fell under the banner of "Isle of Man Railways", along with the Manx Electric Railway. Re-branding to Isle of Man Passenger Transport took place from 1984 but the steam line was not affected, and this reverted to Isle of Man Railways from 1990, when a re-branding exercise took place with the emphasis on the Victorian origins of the railway. A change in management style occurred in 1999, and trains, trams and buses were presented as Isle of Man Transport. The electric railway was affected more by this change, with a series of non-historical and modern liveries, but in 2007 this was changed and the railway is marketed once more as the Isle of Man Railway. In keeping with the historical aspect, coaches and locomotives carry original names and transfers. The banner heading of all the railways was again changed in 2009 and became collectively known as Isle of Man Heritage Railways, although the "heritage" tag has been dropped latterly. Joint timetabling with the Manx Electric Railway sees the line titled as the Steam Railway in marketing material.

Boarding, Douglas railway station in 2008

Entering Port St Mary railway station in 1988

Today's railway is a fraction of its original size: it once served the western town of Peel, the northern town of Ramsey and the small mining village of Foxdale. Since 1969 only the southern line has been operational. Although it is only about half of its former size, Douglas Railway Station is still an impressive complex. After crossing the River Douglas, the line climbs the two-and-a-half-mile-long 1-in-65 Nunnery Bank through a wide rock cutting that brings it through a large estate, and past an industrial estate to the White Hoe, where the island's largest brewery is passed on the left of the train before crossing the first bridge. The train continues to climb to Port Soderick, just before which passengers get the first view of the sea at Keristal, before descending into the railway station. The train then passes through Crogga Woods, under another bridge at Meary Veg (centre for the island's sewage treatment works) and climbs, reaching its summit (209 feet or 63.7 metres,[2] marked by a board visible from the train) close to the site of Ballacostain Halt. The train descends to Santon, the only intermediate station in substantially original condition. From here the train descends at 1 in 60 to Ballasalla railway station, with interesting sea-cliff views to the east. Regular service trains formerly passed each other here. After Ballasalla the line runs over relatively flat land past the request halt at Ronaldsway to the ancient capital of Castletown.

After Castletown the railway crosses the Silver Burn and heads northwest across country to the diminutive request stop at Ballabeg railway station. It then turns west for the short run to Colby, which is popular with the locals. After a request stop at the Level the train continues to Port St Mary, with views of Bradda Head and Milner's Tower on this stretch of line to Port Erin. Port Erin railway station is home to the Whistle Stop Cafe, providing light refreshments, and the Isle of Man Railway Museum, established in 1975 with two locomotives and rolling stock including the Queen's Coach and Governor's Saloon from the opening of the line in 1873.

The majority of the line runs through countryside, with only small stretches close to built-up areas. Many people start or end their journey in Port Erin, a Victorian seaside resort, or in Castletown, the ancient capital. Ronaldsway Halt, between Ballasalla and Castletown, is a few hundred yards' walk from the airport. There are several farm crossings and rural request stops, which largely serve adjoining fields and local communities, especially on the southernmost section which passes through agricultural land. The line passes along the southern plain after traversing the more hilly landscape north of Ballasalla.

When the railway was nationalised in 1978 Bill Jackson was appointed the first manager. During his time in office much progress was made, not all liked by the preservationists and supporters: negative developments overshadowing his tenure included the loss of the large railway yard at Douglas and the unpopular rebuild of No. 12 locomotive Hutchinson. Upon his retirement in 1987 he was replaced by Robert Smith, whose style was totally different and who made many changes. Smith masterminded the Year of Railways in 1993 and the celebrations that followed. Rolling stock returned to original "purple lake" livery and No.s 10, 15 and 1 (in that order) were returned to service. When he resigned in 1999 he was replaced by David Howard, with previous bus experience at various UK operators and rail experience from his time at Tyne and Wear Metro. He was more inclined to a corporate approach and the railway had to follow suit. His time in office, finishing in 2006, will be remembered for the thrust on health and safety issues, such as high-visibility clothing and warning signs, as part of a Government-wide drive.

The government commissioned a study to see if it would be worthwhile to operate commuter services to help relieve the road traffic congestion in and around Douglas, and although experimental services were implemented in 2007, these operate only during T.T. race periods. The study recommended against such development. Nevertheless, almost all the line was relaid in the first few years of this century as part of the Department of Transport's IRIS sewerage scheme, with all but one of the numerous level crossings converted from manual to automatic operation, saving the cost of employing crossing keepers.

After Howard resigned, the Department of Tourism and Leisure's Director of Leisure, Mike Ball, stepped in as acting director of public transport, and in early 2007 the leisure and public transport divisions of the department combined into "service delivery", Ball becoming "Director of service delivery" under the minister Adrian Earnshaw appointed in November 2006. Ian Longworth was appointed Director of Public Transport in 2009 and since then the railway has become part of the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure. A number of new services have been introduced since the arrival of the new director, including evening excursion trains, a Rush Hour event at the start of each season, and family-oriented events including a "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and "Fathers' Day" specials. A restoration programme for the unique collection of rolling stock and locomotives is ongoing; this has seen most recently two saloon-type coaches completely rebuilt and back in traffic; at least three more coaches are to be restored, one of which has been out of traffic for nearly half a century.

No. 13 Kissack (manufactured in 1910) at Douglas Station in 2009

All but one of the railway's distinctive locomotives were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester between 1873 and 1926, with 16 steam locomotives in total. As of January 2021 there are nominally two locomotives in traffic: No. 13 Kissack and No. 15 Caledonia. In addition, No. 11 Maitland is undergoing a long-term rebuild, whilst No. 4 Loch and No. 10 G. H. Wood are both undergoing overhaul. The Isle of Man Railway Museum is home to No. 1 Sutherland of 1873 and No. 6 Peveril of 1875, with other locomotives at various locations. Only No. 2 Derby has been lost, with only the frames of No. 7 Tynwald in existence, privately owned off-island. The railway also possesses two diesel locomotives: No. 17 Viking which was withdrawn in 2010 and the unnamed No. 21, a diesel electric locomotive delivered in December 2013. A number of smaller shunting locomotives and people carriers for departmental use also exist including two Motor-Rail units numbered 24 and 25 based at Port Erin and two Wickham people carriers numbered 22 and 23 used on departmental work and fire train duties. As at 2022 there are four operational steam locomotives with a further three undergoing overhaul both on and off the railway.

Typical rolling stock at Douglas Station in 2010 being marshalled for use

About 30 carriages remain on the railway, of which 18 are in service, two in the Isle of Man Railway Museum, and the rest in storage. Several vehicles were sold off-island in 1975 for preservation, and at least one has been preserved privately on the island. Over 12 out-of-use carriages were lost in a fire that engulfed the large carriage shed at St John's in 1975, and more were damaged beyond economic repair, including most of the remaining Manx Northern six-wheelers. There is an ongoing maintenance programme for returning carriages to traffic, which saw two saloons completely rebuilt and returned to traffic in 2011, with a further two in 2012, all of which now form part of the dining train. In the winter of 2013, a replica of Empress Van F.27 was built on a steel underframe as a kitchen to work with the saloons as a dining train. Significant work was also done on the Cardinal's Coach F.35, which is used as the bar carriage, and the other saloons have being converted recently to dining cars seating 66 in total, giving the six saloon set as of 2015. Further restored stock include 'pairs' carriage F.62 in 2021, timber framed F.11 in 2022 and work also ongoing on sister F.10 which is receiving similar treatment. F.15 also returned to service for the first time since 1999 in the summer of 2022 with the programme of restorations ultimately to aim for three rakes of five or six compartment carriages.

Viewed from the steps of the signal box (from left) No. 13 Kissack, No. 12 Hutchinson and No. 17 Viking at Douglas railway station in July 2006

The IMR has always had a marked seasonal pattern in traffic. Services evolved around two main considerations: the need to connect with ferries to and from the UK and Ireland, and to transport day trippers out of the major termini. The railway never evolved appreciable commuter traffic, so local traffic tended to revolve around shopping, attending markets, and trips to "Town".

When the Isle of Man and Manx Northern Railways opened between 1873 and 1879, the basic service on all three main routes consisted of four or five trains a day. The first departures were timed to arrive in Douglas just before 08:30 to connect with the morning ferries to the UK. The trains returned from Douglas shortly after 09:00, crossing the second inbound trains of the day en route. All three routes then had a late morning/lunchtime, and late afternoon trains in both the up and down directions, with the day's service ending with an early evening departure from Douglas. The February 1878 timetable shows departures from Douglas to Peel at 09:00, 11:00, 14:15, 17:15 and 19:40, and to Port Erin at 08:30, 10:10, 14:10, 17:00, and 19:35. From Peel to Douglas trains departed at 07:40, 10:05, 13:00, 16:00, and 18:30, and from Port Erin at 07:20, 09:50, 12:30, 15:40, and 18:20. This rather basic service tended to increase until after World War Two: seven trains each way on the three main routes was the usual winter timetable in the 1920s and 30s. From 1886 to 1940, the Foxdale branch was served by up to four round trips on weekdays from St John's.

Additional trains were added to the basic service at Easter and again at Whitsun. The high season timetable usually came into effect on the first Monday of July, or immediately following Tynwald Day (5 July). This often stretched the railway's resources to the limit. At its height in the 1920s, the railway was carrying well over a million passengers a year. In this timetable there were up to 15 round trips on the Peel and Port Erin lines, and up to 14 on the Ramsey line, with even Foxdale seeing a half dozen trains each day. In 1927, during the "Bus War", the IMR boasted that it ran "100 trains a day at pre-war prices."

Castletown Station which doubled as Shining Time Station for Thomas and the Magic Railroad in a heavily modified form

The earliest use of the railway as a backdrop for filming purposes appears to have been in 1946 when I See A Dark Stranger used Union Mills station in the opening scenes, doubling as a station in Ireland. The Isle of Man was one of the locations for the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad when Castletown station became Shining Time station while the goods shed at Port Erin became Burnett Stone's workshop, containing a replica of Lady, although the trains themselves were not used during production. Other locations were used to represent the entrance to Burnett's workshop (an old lead mine) and the entry to the Magic Railroad (near the old lead mine), and a workshop in Port Erin was used to store properties, presumably including the Lady replica. The railway has also been used during the filming of The Brylcreem Boys using on-board views and Douglas station, Five Children & It for which Castletown station was fitted with a temporary canopy and given period set dressing, Channel 4's production of Cinderella that saw Santon station used heavily, the BBC adaptation of The Ginger Tree in which it doubled for communist Russia using the carriage shed at Douglas, lineside scenes and Castletown station (No. 11 Maitland was painted matte black for this production and remained in this guise for the remainder of the 1989 season) as well as being the subject of a 1988 BBC documentary as part of the Train Now Departing... series in an episode called "Steam in the Isle of Man". Other television credits include an adaptation of The Legend of the Tamworth Two, the television movie Stiff Upper Lips and the long-running travelogue show Wish You Were Here...? which featured Sir Norman Wisdom.

One-off and special events have been expanded from 2009 with further expansion in 2010 to include several now-annual initiatives, with the focus on the local market and families rather than the less lucrative enthusiasts' market which has tailed off since the expansive events beginning with the 1993 Year of Railways and beyond. Past and present special events are summarised as follows:

No. 4 Loch, Santon station
The Santa Express

No. 13 Kissack, Port Erin
National Week Train

No. 4 Loch, Castletown
Nationwide Express

• Valentine's Love Train (commonly several services on and around 14 February with dining train options)
• Storytelling Trains (children's themed event on the dining trains, started in February 2015)
• Winter Photography (at the end of February or beginning of March around the opening of each season since 2011)
• A Night at the Opera (black-tie event serving an evening's entertainment at the Erin Arts Centre)
• Commuter Club (since 2015, an early morning and early evening service with the on-board bar open)
• Rush Hour (an enthusiasts' event held over the Easter weekend annually since 2010)
• Thanks, Mum (Mothers' Day special offers using the railway's dining train, several services)
• Southern Belle (dining train excursions themed around an historical service on the railway)
• Island at War (annual wartime-themed trains and events usually held mid-August)
• The Darjeeling Limited (themed cuisine night with an evening service to Port Erin and return)
• The Queenie Express (train services to tie in with the Queenie Festival in Port St Mary)
• Dining Trains of the World (a series of dining trains with menus themed around worldwide cuisine)
• Trans-Siberian Express (themed cuisine night with an evening service to Port Erin and return)
• Rail Ale Tour (bar train service to Port Erin tie in with the beer festival at the former Falcon's Nest Hotel)
• Southern 100 Shuttle (occasional road closure replacement service between Port Erin and Castletown)
• Manx Heritage Transport Festival (the main summer festival, usually at end of July or start of August)
• Teddy Bears' Picnic (various themed events centring on Ballasalla, usually early September)
• The Curry Club (themed dining service operating on commuter train days only)
• Night at the Museum (Thursday evenings with late opening of the railway museum in Port Erin)
• Shoebox Special (a special service for Operation Christmas Child charity, usually November)
• Le Train Bleu (themed cuisine night with an evening service to Port Erin and return)
• Family Fun Weekend (weekend in late August featuring bouncy castles, face-painting, etc.)
• A Musical Gala (tie in with the Erin Arts Centre for an evening of old-time musical hall)
• Manx National Week Trains (trains carry commemorative headboards in the first week of July)
• Hop-tu-Naa Express (since 2010, themed ghost train event at Hallowe'en with dining trains)
• The Emporia's Banquet (themed cuisine night with an evening service to Port Erin and return)
• Ride The Rocket (the end of season train serving the fireworks and bonfire in Port Erin)
• The Santa Express (visiting Santa in his grotto at various locations, Castletown or Santon)
• Christmas Shopping Express (a direct shopping service to Douglas from Port Erin in December)
• Blow Away The Cobwebs Train (out of season one-off special services prior to the New Year)
• The Wizard's Express (end of season themed children's event using the dining set)
• The Polar Express (festive themed trains in conjunction with Warner Bros. film)
• Christmas Carol Train (shuttle train in cooperation with a local brass band Castletown-Port Erin)

• On 22 August 1925 a train hauled by No. 3 Pender ran into Douglas station with insufficient braking power as a misunderstanding had resulted in the Guard and Brakesman being left behind at Union Mills, resulting in there being no-one on board the forward and rear brake vans to apply the train handbrakes. The Fireman of the train was killed but the Driver, William Costain, escaped unhurt. Vacuum brakes were introduced as a result of the accident.[4]
• J.I.C. Boyd[5] mentions a serious head-on collision between a light engine (No. 7) and a passenger train on Port Soderick bank in 1928, which resulted in the frames of No. 10 G.H. Wood being bent. They were bent again in a minor collision at Union Mills in 1968[3]
• On 14 August 2005 a train hauled by No. 13 Kissack when entering Castletown was derailed on the facing points of the passing loop, resulting in the locomotive and leading coach F.54 becoming derailed. There were no serious injuries and services were replaced by buses for the remainder of the day while the locomotive was re-railed.
• On 19 May 2008 a train hauled by No. 4 Loch to Port Erin was involved in a collision with a van at Port Soderick station. There were no reported injuries to the driver of the van or the 74 passengers and crew on board the train.
• On 7 May 2012 a train hauled by No. 4 Loch was involved in a minor collision with a train hauled by No. 13 Kissack that was awaiting departure from the bay platform at Port Erin due to the points being incorrectly set.
• On 31 December 2022 a New Years' dining train hauled by No.11 Maitland struck a tree in the vicinity of Ballabeg Station causing some damage to the rolling stock, reported in the local media; this impinged on later services which were cancelled.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isle of Man Railway.

• Isle of Man Transport & Isle of Man Railways Site
• Isle of Man Guide – Steam Railway