Isle of Man: Douglas to Peel

Starting Point - Douglas Station. Finishing Point - Site of Peel Station. Distance 11 miles.

It's actually some time since I walked the route of the closed railway from Douglas to Peel on the Isle of Man. On a couple of recent trips I revisited many of the sites of that route whilst doing a couple of other walks. When I originally walked the route I took very few photos so I have used photos here from my more recent visits.

The Douglas to Peel line was the first line of the Isle of Man's railway system, opening in 1873. It closed in 1968 and in recent years the trackbed has been turned in to a footpath. Much more information about the railways on the island can be found on the Disused Stations website. That site also has further details of all the stations I visited on this walk.

Rail Map Online

Google Maps

Douglas

Douglas station is still in use for trains on the surviving route to Port Erin. The station was downsized in the 1970s following the closure of the Peel and Ramsey routes in 1968. Originally it had two island platforms and canopies over the platforms.

Below - Douglas station today. Originally there was another island platform behind the engine, the site of this and the goods yards is now taken up by a bus depot and parking for the railway.

 

After Douglas station the Port Erin and Peel routes ran parallel for a short distance before diverging where the Port Erin route crosses the River Glass. The stub of the Peel line survives as a siding at the back of Douglas shed and is referred to as "Peel Siding" up to shortly before the routes diverged.

After the routes diverged the trackbed of the Peel line survives but is covered with trees and isn't acceccible. It runs at the back of industrial and retail units on Peel Road. The bridge over the trackbed on Pulrose Road survives.

 

Quarter Bridge Halt

Where the railway crossed New Castletown Road a halt was provided for motorcycling events. It was only advertised in 1928 and 1929 and no photos are known of it. Nothing remains today except from the crossing keeper's cottage, largely obscured from view by trees now. Between here and Braddon Halt the trackbed has been tarmaced over for use as an access road for the TT races. 

Braddon Halt

Braddon Halt just had summer Sunday morning services serving the nearby church. It just had a wooden hut and was accessed by steps from the road bridge. The wooden hut is gone but the steps and bridge survive.

Union Mills

Union Mills was the first proper station out of Douglas. It had two tracks but only had a raised platform in the Peel direction which can still be seen.

Below - As a feature on the footpath and cycle route a former railway hand crane and a replica station sign have been added at the station site.

Below - At the side of the track where passengers boarded for Douglas there was no platform. The station name was displayed in stone which can still be seen. There were a couple of wooden buildings on this side of the track which are no longer there.

Below - The bridge under Union Mills Main Road. The Railway Inn survives on the road just to the left of the shot.

Crosby

The next station was Crosby, just after the crossing on Old Church Road. The memorial playing fields now occupy the station site and no trace of the station remains. Just the crossing keeper's hut survives.

Below - The crossing keepers hut at Crosby.

Below - Bridge over the River Greeba. The bridge is a wooden footbridge but is on the abutments of the old railway bridge.

Glen Helan Halt / Ballacraine Halt

The halt initially served a pleasure ground just outside St Johns between 1876 and 1879. A halt was provided again for motorcycle races in 1927. There are no known pictures of the halt and the only surviving feature is the crossing keeper's hut.

Below - The crossing keeper's hut on Curragh Road.

Below - The bridge that carried the branch from St John's to Foxdale over the Peel line.

St John's

The site of St John's station is now a car park. 

Below - Remains of an advertising hording at the station site. This can be seen on old photos of the station site on the Disused Stations page.

Below - The station site looking along where the Peel bound platform once was towards Peel. The station buildings were provided where the platform met the road. Where the cars are parked was an island platform with trains from Peel to Douglas on this side and trains to Ramsey on the other side.

Below - A station name board in the Manx Museum in Douglas.

Before passing through St John's I took a slight detour to visit Tynwald Hill. The man made mound dates from the 14th Century at the latest. The open air parliament meeting place is used for the ceremony of Tynwald Day on 5th July (or the Monday after if the 5th falls on a weekend) every year, a ceremony with origins in the 10th Century.

Below - Tynwald Hill.

Returning to the railway, just west of the station was the connection to the Foxdale line which had its own platform for St John's just before the junction. Further west of the station was another junction where the Ramsey line left the Peel line.

Below - The junction of the Peel and Ramsey lines. The Peel line crossed the River Neb on the span to the left and the Ramsey line on the slightly higher span on the right as that line gained height to cross Peel Road on a bridge.

Peel

Glenfaba bridge survives and the former route approaches Peel. As it passes the power station the foot and cycle path becomes a roadway. 

Below - The crossing on Mill Road. The section of platform is not original, the platform did not reach this far, it has been added as a reminder of the nearby station. The water tower is original though and the lamp on the platform was from the station site. At this end of the site was the engine shed, hence the water tower. The shed stood behind where the carriage is now. Across the road here is the Manx Transport Heritage Museum which wasn't open at the time of my original walk but was open last year when I took these photos on a visit by bus.

Below - The original station buildings survive at Peel and are now incorporated in to the House of Manannan Museum. When I visited last year there was an exhibition in the former station buildings about the railway.

A goods line ran along East Quay for harbour traffic but was probably removed some time before the route closed. Other goods tramways were established on West Quay for the construction of the harbour breakwater. 

On my original walk we returned to Douglas by bus. Though the Isle of Man lost the rail connection to it's second biggest town it does have good bus links and thankfully an example of the steam railway survived with the Douglas to Port Erin line.

Coal and Gas in Huddersfield

A circular walk from Huddersfield Station visiting the Gas Works and Hillhouse Coal Yard. 

Distance 2.2 miles

At the time of writing a former gas works in Huddersfield was scheduled for demolition. At the recent Heritage Open Days a day of guided tours around the site were offered as a last chance to see the works. Unfortunately I was at work and missed the tours but I noticed from the details given that they would follow the perimeter of the site as much of the works site is fenced off ready for the demolition to start, this being areas accessible to the public I had a do-it-yourself visit using old maps. 

Google Map

1933 Map

The gas works was a half mile walk from Huddersfield station on Gas Works Street. More information about the works can be found on the Huddersfield Local History Society website.

Though the works dates back to 1821 it was begun on the west side of the canal where the Farmfoods supermarket now stands, receiving coal from the canal. The works expanded in all directions and much of what remains dates from around the time of the First World War. From 1919 the expanded works received coal by rail via a short branchline running along the streets from Newtown goods yard.

Below - The building on the right is shown on a plan of an 1890s rebuild of the site as containing a Sulphate Plant and Mechanics Shop. In more recent years it has been the Gas Club bar and social club. The land on the left is shown on the same plan as a Coal Store, this was the space between the works and the canal where the coal would be landed. When the railway link was built it crossed over the canal on a girder bridge and over the coal stores on a concrete flyover. The railway tracks in the middle of the shot carried on across the road to connect earlier parts of the site which have since been demolished.

Below - The last standing gas holder at the former works, there were previously more gas holders across the other side of Gas Works Street on the earlier part of the works that has been demolished. The point of the run round loop on the works railway can be seen.

Below - The track on the left is the former branchline from Newtown goods yard. It crossed over the coal store on a concrete flyover before crossing the canal on a girder bridge.

Below - The building on the left isn't shown as rail connected on the map but satellite images show it has two tracks in to it. It is not currently accessible. It looks as if it might have been the engine shed for the works railway.

Below - This building is actually of a mill alongside the works that seems to have existed before the works was expanded up to it. Older maps show it as Canal Bridge Mills (Woollen)

Below - Looking across to the part of the site south of Gas Works Street. Beyond the gate and pipe bridge the site is completely levelled.

Below - The former Sulphate Plant and Mechanics Shop.

Below - At the east end of the site was a power station, the site of this is now occupied by car dealerships along St Andrew's Road.

Below - The building I think would have been the loco shed seen from the Grove Road side. I had a bit of a long walk round as Grove Road is not now accessible from St Andrew's Road.

Below - The view from Leeds Road. The building on the left was part of the Canal Bridge Mill.

Below - The car parking is on what was the coal store.

Below - In this shot the concrete flyover for the rail link would have been above where I was standing and this area would have been covered with the coal store for the works.

Below - I took a short walk on the canal where it served the works prior to the railway link being built. The gas works began south of Gas Works Street and west of the canal so the location of the photo north of the road and east of the canal had seen other uses prior to the expansion of the gas works. In earlier maps Perseverance Mills (Dye Ware) are shown here, so these buildings may have been part of that mill. The doorway would have provided access to the gas works coal store from the canal.

Below - It's not very clear on the photo but this is where the railway crossed the canal. It could be seen where the abutment for the girder bridge over the canal had been.

Below - The concrete abutment for the girder bridge on the west side of the bridge.

Below - The railway to Newtown goods yard ran down the middle of Beaumont Street. The Great Northern Retail Park as been built across the street and only a short truncated section of Beaumont Street remains. The scars in the road are probably where the rails have been removed, or maybe they are still in the tarmac there somewhere.

Below - The gas works railway ran under the arch on the left.

Below - The arch on the left is where the line from the gas works emerged in to Newtown goods yard, retail units including the Halfords seen in the photo now occupy the site of the railway goods yard. The Newtown goods yard was run by the Midland Railway with everything around it being London & North Western Railway. It was served by a branch line from Mirfield which is now a foot and cycle path, a highlight of this is the Bradley Viaduct.

I didn't walk the Midland goods line on this occasion, I have done it before, instead I visited another interesting sight in the area. The Huddersfield tram network had a short freight branch to Hillhouse Goods Yard and carried coal to local businesses. It had been intended to retain some steam trams for the work when the tram system was converted to electric power but two electric powered coal trams were built for the work. The coal trams could carry 10 tons of coal and were demonstrated on 2nd September 1904. A couple of mills on the Outlane route were amongst the customers for the service. The coal trams hauled around 12000 tons of coal a year.

The branch left the tram route at the junction of Bradford Road and Whitestone Lane and ran along Whitestone Lane up to the goods yard. The coal drops survive and the tramway track at the foot of the coal drops is still in situ. I walked there along Bradford Road and Whitestone Lane following the route that the coal trams had taken.

Below - The tramway branch crossed Alder Street and in to the goods yard through the gate on the left.

On the right the fence at the edge of the top of the coal drops can be seen, though the site is quite overgrown.

Below - The tramway track to the foot of the coal drops seen through the gateway.

Below - The gateway at the south of the coal yard through which carts and later lorries would have entered the yard.

 From here I walked back to Huddersfield station.