Disused Stations: Peel Road Station (original) (raw)

Notes: Peel Road originally opened as Poortown in June 1883. The station was situated on the Manx Northern Railways 1879 St Johns to Ramsey line. The station was the Manx Northern Railways nearest station to Peel which was over a mile away. In 1885 the station was renamed as Peel Road.

The station consisted of a single platform with a simple wooden building which provided staff accommodation and a waiting room. The platform was connected to the A20 Road which passed over the line by a ramp. Train services ran to Ramsey in the north and St Johns which lay to the south east. At St Johns connections could be made with Isle of Man Railway services running between Douglas and Peel. It is known that some through services did operate to Douglas at this time.

More trains were operated in the summer months. In the summer of 1887 there were nine trains to Ramsey Monday-to-Saturday which reduced to five in the winter. On Sundays there were three trains to Ramsey in the Summer and two in the winter. The December 1895 timetable showed five trains in each direction Monday-to-Saturday and two each way on Sundays.

On 24 May 1905 the St Johns to Ramsey line was taken over by the Isle of Man Railway and through services to Douglas became common.

The July 1922 timetable showed ten up and nine down services Monday-to-Saturday as shown in the table below. On Sundays there were three trains in each direction.

Being in a somewhat isolated location Peel Road station became an unstaffed halt after 1937. During that year there were eleven trains to Ramsey in the summer and seven in the winter Monday-to-Saturday. On sundays there were three trains in the summer and none in the winter.

It was an early closure in June 1951 after which passenger services just passed through.

The line closed to passenger services on 6 September 1968. Goods services in the form of an oil tank train continued until April 1969. The track on the St Johns to Ramsey line was sold for scrap in 1973 and lifted shortly afterwards.

Further reading: Isle of Man Classic Steam by Robert Robotham published by Colourpoint 1998. Old colour photographs of the Isle of Man Railways - ISBN 1 898392 43 9
Douglas to Ramsey by Tom Heavyside - Middleton Press 2004 - ISBN 978 1 904474 39 5
Isle of Man Railways Vol. 1 Pre 1873 - 1904, Vol 2 1905 - 1994 & Vol. 3 by J I C Boyd - the definitive history of the Isle of Man railways - Oakwood Press.

Click here for a comprehensive list of books, magazines and videos about the Isle of Man railways.

Other web sites: Narrow Gauge Heaven - includes old colour photographs

Click here for a brief history of the Isle of Man Railways

To see other stations on the St. Johns - Ramsey line click on the station name:
St. Johns, St. Germain's, Gob-y-Deigan, West Berk Level Crossing,
Kirkmichael, Bishops Court, Ballaugh, Ballavolley Halt, Sulby Glen, Sulby Bridge, Lezayre & Ramsey