Starting Point - Site of St John's Station. Finishing Point - Site of Sulby Bridge Station plus walking around the site of the railway in Ramsey. Distance 22 Miles.
Frustration with stalled plans to extend the Isle of Man Railways north to Ramsey after the opening of the Peel and Port Erin routes a led to a separate company being set up to build the line, the Manx Northern Railway. The route north from Douglas along the east coast was too hilly for a railway route so a route was constructed north from St John's and along the west coast to Kirk Michael before heading inland and on to Ramsey on the east coast. The line opened in 1879. In 1899 the Manx Electric Railway reached Ramsey with a more direct route up the east coast, the gradients within the capabilities of electric trams. From 1905 the MNR and IOMR were merged. Despite the introduction of tram services the steam railway from St John's to Ramsey continued running until the cutbacks across the steam railway in 1968, closing the day before the Peel line on 6th September.
Much more about the history of the railways and details of the stations I visit can be found on the Disused Stations website.
Most of the route is now a footpath, though the footfall is far less than that of the Douglas to Peel route so the standard of the path is not as good in places. From Sulby to Ramsey the trackbed is now private land so after walking from St John's to Sulby Bridge I got the bus to Ramsey.
I previously walked the former railway route from Douglas to Peel so following a bus ride from Douglas this walk picks up at the former junction station at St John's. More information on the site of St John's station is included on the description of that route.
Rail Map Online (it is best to select Open Street Map on the Maps as this has better coverage of footpaths than the default Google Maps).
Below - Picture of a train from Ramsey at St John's in 1951, photo from Wikipedia (details)
Below - The former Railway Junction Hotel seen in the background on the above photo.
Below - Access to the former railway to Peel and Ramsey from Station Road in St John's. The path along the trackbed can be seen across the centre of the shot. When the Ramsey line first opened the MNR established its own station here, likely a simple wooden halt. Through running between the two railways and eventual merger meant the trains went on to use the IOMR station on the other side of the crossing. The MNR also went on to build its own station north of here when it began operating the Foxdale Railway, I cover this in my visit to the Foxdale Railway.
Below - The junction between the Peel and Ramsey lines, the Ramsey line is on the separate bridge span on the right. Just after the bridge a less well defined path cuts across to the Ramsey trackbed. The path is not very clear as it is covered with grass on a slight embankment up to the A1 Peel Road.
Below - Abutments of the former bridge over the A1 Peel Road.
Peel Road
Below - Before the former railway crosses under Poortown Road is the former Peel Road station. A replica nameboard has recently been installed to mark the station site. The platform can still be seen, as can the access ramp down from Poortown Road (on the left but not clear on the picture). Though the location of the station was the village of Poortown the station was known as Peel Road as it offered the possibility of passeners for Peel walking in to the town rather than changing trains at St John's.
Below - Bridge under Ballagyr Lane.
Below - Bridge under the Lhergydhoo Farm track.
Below - Former level crossing on the A4 with the crossing keeper's cottage.
St Germain's
Below - The former St Germain's station on the left, now a house.
Below - Footbridge over streams built on the abutments of the railway bridges.
Below - Bridge carrying a footpath between Coast Road and the beach over the railway.
Gob Y Diegan
Below - A small halt was provided for the scenic spot with views of the coast, just a wooden hut was provided.
Below - Footpath bridge over the railway.
Below - Bridge under the Coast Road. The road has been strengthened by constructing a tunnel and filling under the bridge.
Below - Bridge over the Glion Sheltan stream built on the old railway bridge abutments.
Below - Gates to a farmers field featuring the old cast iron fencing from the railway.
Below - Abutments of removed bridge over Stockfield Road.
Below - Remains of Glen Mooar viaduct. The lattice spans of the viaduct was removed in 1975 so a detour down to the valley bottom and back up to the trackbed is necessary.
West Berk
Below - The crossing keeper's cottage at West Berk level crossing. A short lived halt was provided here next to the cottage. Nothing remains of the halt which probably had no structures to speak of aside from the cottage. There are no known pictures of the halt.
Below - Another crossing under the Coast Road, also strengthened for heavier road traffic.
Below - Ivy covered footpath bridge.
Below - Glen Wyllin viaduct, another with the lattice spans removed requiring a slight detour around it.
Kirk Michael
The former station at Kirk Michael is now a fire station. The facilities are in the station building and the fire engine is kept in the former goods shed.
Below - The former station. The track panel has been reinstated since the closure of the line.
Below - A section of rails remains in the level crossing.
Below - The station buildings.
Below - The station buildings and goods shed.
Below - The goods shed with fire engine now inside.
Below - Bridge over Balleira Road and Balleira stream.
Below - Bridge under a farm access.
Below - Bridge under Orrisdale.
Below - Bridge under a footpath.
Bishopscourt Halt
Below - Level crossing over Orrisdale Road. This was the location of Bishopscourt Halt on the south side of the road so behind me in the photo. The only facility provided was a wooden bench which has long gone, the halt having been abandoned around 1950. Only the crossing keeper's cottage remains, though a new bench has been provided on the footpath.
Below - Crossing Bollyn Road and another crossing keeper's cottage.
Below - Antoher remnant of the cast iron railway fence posts.
Below - Former railway bridge over a couple of streams on the approach to Ballaugh.
Ballaugh
Below - The trackbed runs at the back of houses on Station Road in Ballaugh before crossing the level crossing in to the station site. The goods shed can be seen on the left.
Below - The former goods shed. The passenger station would have been on the right.
Below - A panel of track has been installed
Below - The former cattle dock and goods platform.
Below - Crossing Ballacrye Road, the crossing keeper's cottage can be seen on the right.
Ballavolley Halt
Curraghs Wildlife Park was opened in 1965 and a halt was provided to serve it, though the facilities just consisted of a sign. Though this was potentially a boost for the line it came a bit late with periodic closures until complete closure a few years later.
Below - The crossing keeper's cottage and a panel of track marking where the railway had run. The rails were unearthed when a pipe was laid here and were reinstated at the former level crossing. The halt was in the trees in the background, now at the back of the car park for the wildlife park.
Sulby Glen
Below - The former station building at Sulby Glen. The station had a single track with platform and building. There was a goods platform and cattle dock similar to Ballaugh behind the station building though the station site is hidden from the path by the line of trees seen here where the platform edge would have been.
The footpath ends where it meets Kella Road. This is not far from the next station at Sulby Bridge so I walked along the nearby Sulby Main Road and St Judes Road to reach it.
Sulby Bridge
Below - The former station building at Sulby Bridge, now a house.
Lezayre
The trackbed runs through farmland most of the way to Ramsey from Sulby and is not accessible so I got a bus from Sulby Bridge to Ramsey. This did mean missing the former station at Lezayre which can be seen from Garey Road where the station was situated at a level crossing. The small station building survives as a house now and can be seen from the road.
Ramsey
At Ramsey a stretch of the line has been turned in to a footpath serving housing developments around Ramsey. I doubled back on foot to Garderners Lane where that path ends. Though with all the development around Ramsey there is little sign of the old railway left around Ramsey.
Below - The former crossing keeper's cottage on Garderners Lane.
Below - The path looking towards Ramsey.
Below - Where the lines once fanned out into the goods yard at Ramsey there was a stack of railway materials.
Below - The site of the goods yard.
Below - Some of the perimeter wall around the station site can be seen. There is some wall on the left in this shot.
Below - A bakery has been built on the site of the station itself. Some of the perimeter wall can be seen on the left.
Below - This would have once been the view of the station building across Station Road.
Below - Another bit of retaining wall once at the back of the station site. On the other side of the wall was a line which continued across the road and on to the harbour. The harbour branch was used mainly for Iron Ore from the mines at Foxdale but closed in the mid 1950s.
Below - The harbour along the Sulby River. The goods line continued along the harbour well past the bridge up to the point where West Quay met East Quay.
From Ramsey I got the Manx Electric Railway back to Douglas.
