Peel Station was a terminus on the Isle of Man Railway

Isle of Man Railway

The Isle of Man Railway is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin in the Isle of Man. The line is built to gauge and is long...

; it served the city of Peel in the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

 and was the final stopping place on a line that ran between Douglas

Douglas railway station

Douglas Railway Station is the main terminus of the Isle of Man Railway and is located at the landward end of the quay in Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man...

 and the city. It was part of the island's first railway line.

Construction

The station was built by the Isle of Man Railway

Isle of Man Railway

The Isle of Man Railway is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin in the Isle of Man. The line is built to gauge and is long...

 and opened on 1 July 1873. The station was located at the end of the railway line from Douglas

Douglas railway station

Douglas Railway Station is the main terminus of the Isle of Man Railway and is located at the landward end of the quay in Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man...

 via St John's

St. John's railway station

St. John's Railway Station was a station on the Isle of Man Railway, later merging with a neaby station of the Manx Northern Railway; it served the village of St...

 to the town of Peel. The decision to locate the station by the harbour was taken late in 1872 when the Isle of Man Railway abandoned plans to extend the line to Ramsey. The station building was located next to Peel harbour. A small goods depot was situated next to the platforms, on the side farthest from the harbour.

Services

Most trains from Douglas to Peel were combined with trains to Ramsey. The two sections split at St John's. The IoMR timetable for July 1922 shows twelve trains arriving at Peel from Douglas on weekdays. Nine were 'split trains', whilst three were complete trains from Douglas. The first arrival was at 8.58am and the last was at 11.40pm. The average time taken for the 12 miles from Douglas was 40 minutes.. Regular trains ran to and from Douglas until the line was closed on 13 November 1965. Services resumed on 3 June 1967, but ceased permanently on 7 September 1968.. The reopening day of the line in 1967 saw the celebrations centred around this station and nearly all the railway's servicable rolling stock was on site together with five steam locomotives on the day, and a fair held on the station forecourt to mark the event. The last time a locomotive was on the site was in 1998 as part of the Steam 125

Steam 125

Steam 125 was a series of events held in 1998 to mark the 125th anniversary of the Isle of Man Railway opening its first route from Douglas to Peel the railway ran a large number of special events. Most notable was the return to service of the original steam locomotive No...

 celebrations marking the anniversary of the line's opening when locomotive No. 1 Sutherland

Isle of Man Railway locomotives

The locomotives of the Isle of Man Railway were provided exclusively by Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester, England between 1873 and 1926; other locomotives that appear on this list were inherited as part of the take-over of the Manx Northern Railway and Foxdale Railway which happened in 1905...

 was operated on a short section of temporary track in the car park which was once the island platform. At various times there have been plans to create short sections of track from the station but none of these have ever come to fruition, though the Manx Transport Museum Group have their headquarters in the nearby former brickworks office, holding a number of railway-related items.

After Closure

After the final trains departed in 1968 the station remained in situ for a number of years, the rails not being lifted until 1975 after which time the site was surfaced and used as a boat park; the main station building also became a fisherman's shelter and the goods shed was converted in 1979 to house the replica viking longboat Odin's Raven which was constructed in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 and sailed to the island to commemorate the millennium of the island's own parliament in that year. The locomotive shed at the eastern end of the yard was demolished at the same time as the rails were lifted, having become unsafe following a fire that engulfed the wooden lean-to some years previously, although the water tower beside it has survived and now forms part of a visitor's centre operated by the local heritage trust. This site also now houses one of the railway's original 1873 carriages which has been cosmetically restored in recent times. The site remained in this format until 1998 when the award winning visitor's centre was developed on the site. Adjacent to the station is the Creek Inn which was once titled the Station Hotel; today this hostelry is a popular venue for live traditional music and also features displays of old photographs and posters of the time the railway served the city.

Today

The building that now forms a display area for the House of Mannanan in Peel was originally the terminus of the Isle of Man Railway

Isle of Man Railway

The Isle of Man Railway is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin in the Isle of Man. The line is built to gauge and is long...

 (latterly it was employed as a fishermans' shelter after closure of the line however). The building replaced the wooden original built for the opening in 1873 and was built in 1911 partly from distinctive local sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

. In a picturesque harbourside setting, the station was a busy one. Lifted after closure in 1968 it is the most "intact" of the line's closed stations, with the station itself, water tower

Water tower

A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....

 (now part of a transport museum) and goods shed still extant. The latter became home of the replica

Replica

A replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...

 viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 longship

Longship

Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship’s design evolved over many years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with...

 "Odin's Raven" in 1979 but now houses an audio visual display area as part of the museum. At the eastern end of the station next to the water tower was once the locomotive shed, long since gone, but an original four-wheel coach body is now on site as a potential restoration project for the museum group. The quayside on which the site sits has been considerably redeveloped in the last few years with many nearby buildings being overhauled and repainted in period style, the area having something of a renaissance as a popular destination with trippers and holidaymakers. The River Neb which runs next to the station site has also had a marina facility installed. A contemporary designed toilet and shower block has also been installed on reclaimed land close to the former locomotive shed for use in connection with the vessels housed at the marina. Denoting the position of the former railway line, a replica fishtail semaphore signal stands at the end of the station yard together with a small set of replica level crossing gates.

Route

See also

• Isle of Man Railway stations
  Isle of Man Railway stations
  This article details each of the lines operated by the Isle of Man Railway, including the original line to Peel in the west, opened in 1873, followed by the Port Erin line the following year , as well as the Manx Northern Railway's line between St John's and Ramsey and the Foxdale Railway's line...
  
  
• Peel station on the Subterranea Britannica Disused Stations website

Sources

• [Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters' Association]