Qualla: Colby Railway Station

Colby Railway Station: Introduction

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SMJ, CC BY-SA 2.0. Colby is the only station on the Isle of Man Steam Railway where the bilingual nameboards are not really bilingual. The Manx version — Stashoon Raad Yiarn Cholby — has exactly the same spelling for the village name as the English, so there has never been much to translate. It is the kind of small accident of language that, on a railway proud of its Manx signage, has left this one stop quietly different. The station is otherwise modest: a passing loop, two short platforms, and an oddly low waiting shelter on the southern edge of the village of Colby. But that shelter has its own story, and the spot it sits on has been a stopping place for trains since 1874.

Read more: Colby Railway Station on Qualla

Image: SMJ | CC BY-SA 2.0

Colby Railway Station: An Original Station

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Hoare, CC BY-SA 2.0. Colby opened with the rest of the south line in 1874. The original building was identical in design to the one at Ballasalla — a ground-level platform with a small waiting room and a station master's office, all sitting on the north side of the running line. The same plan still s...

Read more: Colby Railway Station on Qualla

Image: Richard Hoare | CC BY-SA 2.0

Colby Railway Station: The Building That Wasn't There

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris Gunns, CC BY-SA 2.0. The original Colby station building was demolished in 1980, two years after the line was nationalised in 1978. For a while there was no shelter at all on the platform — passengers waited in the open. In 1991 a small shelter was retrieved from Braddan Bridge on the long-abandoned ...

Read more: Colby Railway Station on Qualla

Image: Chris Gunns | CC BY-SA 2.0

Colby Railway Station: Local Traffic

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dr Neil Clifton, CC BY-SA 2.0. Colby is a mandatory stopping place and one of the busiest on the line for local rather than tourist use. The village is small, the railway is the village's connection to Douglas and Port Erin, and the train is a practical way for residents to shop in either direction. The Colby ...

Read more: Colby Railway Station on Qualla

Image: Dr Neil Clifton | CC BY-SA 2.0

Colby Railway Station: A Stop in the South

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Wilkinson from London, CC BY-SA 2.0. Trains approach Colby from the north on a right-hand curve. Departing south, the line straightens out and runs down to the level road crossing at Kentraugh Farm — an occupational crossing rather than a fully gated one, served by the village rather than a public road. The wider so...

Read more: Colby Railway Station on Qualla

Image: Andrew Wilkinson from London | CC BY-SA 2.0