Eskadale is an intermediate request stop on the east coast route of the Manx Electric Railway

Manx Electric Railway

The Manx Electric Railway is an electric inter-urban tramway connecting Douglas, Laxey and Ramsey in the Isle of Man. It connects with the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway at its southern terminus at Derby Castle at the northern end of the promenade in Douglas, and with the Snaefell Mountain Railway at...

 on the Isle of Man.

Location

The halt is located at the northern extremity of Groudle Glen

Groudle Glen

Groudle, a glen on the outskirts of Onchan on the Isle of Man, is formed in a valley leading to the sea at the small port of the same name. It was a remote hamlet boasting only a handful of small cottages until linked to the Manx Electric Railway in 1893, at which time it was developed as a...

; it takes its name from the house that it stands next to, and is bisected by a small road crossing called Bibaloe Beg which serves the farm of the same name. Directly across from the station is the steep Old Lonan Church Road which eventually accesses the pack horse lane that leads to the Groudle Glen Railway

Groudle Glen Railway

The Groudle Glen Railway is a narrow gauge railway north of Douglas in the Isle of Man which is owned and operated by members of the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters' Association and operates on summer Sundays; May to September and Wednesday evenings in July and August along with a number of...

 and it is this road that the locomotives and larger equipment are delivered to the diminutive line on.

Namesake

The house from which the stopping place takes its name is itself dominated by topiary

Topiary

Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...

 in the shape of a peacock and was once the dwelling of Richard Maltby Broadbent, the entrepreneur who developed the nearby glen and railway. The house is of unusual style, including mock-tudor gables and red brick construction, with modern garages to its side.

Marketing

The stopping place was never officially marked until 1999 when a bus-type totem sign was erected on one of the traction poles to denote its presence. It is little used and not mentioned in the railway's timetable literature, although the 27a service of Bus Vannin

Bus Vannin

Bus Vannin is the title of the government owned and operated bus service on the Isle of Man. The name was adopted in June 2009 having previously been branded as Isle of Man Transport...

 serves the route on the parallel road.

Route

Sources

• Manx Electric Railway Stopping Places (2002) Manx Electric Railway Society
• Island Images: Manx Electric Railway Pages (2003) Jon Wornham
• Official Tourist Department Page (2009) Isle Of Man Heritage Railways