Qualla: St John's Railway Station

St John's Railway Station: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit FinnWikiNo, CC BY-SA 3.0. They called it the Manx Crewe. The nickname was a joke and also exactly true - this junction, tucked into a Manx village beside Tynwald Hill, was where three separate railway companies' lines converged on a network only thirty miles across. The Isle of Man Railway's Peel line came in from the east. The Manx Northern Railway swept down from Ramsey in the north. The Foxdale Railway arrived from the south, looping over the others on a stone bridge that still stands. On busy days all three platform faces could be occupied at once, with locomotives being uncoupled, recoupled, and shuffled between trains bound for different parts of the island. For something this small, St John's was extraordinarily busy.

Image: FinnWikiNo | CC BY-SA 3.0

St John's Railway Station: Three Stations, One Site

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dr Neil Clifton, CC BY-SA 2.0. There were really three stations at St John's, though only one was in continuous use until the end. The original wooden building went up in 1873 to serve the Peel Line, built to the same modest design as the station at Crosby - a waiting shelter with accommodation for the station...

Image: Dr Neil Clifton | CC BY-SA 2.0

St John's Railway Station: Tynwald Day and the Race

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dr Neil Clifton, CC BY-SA 2.0. The single busiest day each year was Tynwald Day on 5 July, when thousands travelled to St John's for the open-air parliament ceremony just up the road. The railway threw the whole network at the problem. Trains ran from dawn until well after midnight. Every available carriage we...

Image: Dr Neil Clifton | CC BY-SA 2.0

St John's Railway Station: George Crellin and the Point Box

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Hillas, CC BY-SA 2.0. For the railway's final decades, the station master at St John's was George Albert Crellin. He was born on 2 November 1897, and by retirement in 1968 - the year the network ceased ordinary operations - he had become one of the most photographed figures on the line. He cycled to t...

Image: David Hillas | CC BY-SA 2.0

St John's Railway Station: Fires, a Schoolhouse, and What Remains

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Hoare, CC BY-SA 2.0. After services ceased in 1968, the carriage shed at St John's became a storage yard for surplus rolling stock. A disastrous fire on 10 December 1975 destroyed many of the historic carriages still kept there - a controlled burn the following June disposed of what was left. The 187...

Image: Richard Hoare | CC BY-SA 2.0