Talk:Manx Northern Railway

Line/route map
I think that this is a welcome addition to the article - thank you Mjroots (talk)! I particularly lilke the way that Ramsey Harbour is shown as a branch, not as a continuation through the station as shown in the Ramsey line template (I will amend that template to be consistent).

I would like to discuss some points that this diagram raises however - I would like to see consistency maintained for all IOM railway templates.

1. Stations - I too attempted to make some distinctions between "major" and "minor" stations on the route but to be honest I came to the conclusion that, apart from the terminii and St. John's, I would show them as small stations HST as opposed to BHF. I think the route diagram looks better for this. In particular, I showed St. John's as two separate stations with no interchange (they were in close proximity but this does not constitute an interchange IMHO).

The station marked on the diagram as Jurby was actually advertised as "Bishop's Court" or "Bishopscourt" and has its own article (Bishop's Court railway station) and was open to the public in the 1930's

Knockaloe camp is shown almost as a siding - I think that this is probably a better description than as a station. (I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that there ever was a station there, the trains simply stopped at convenient points around the camp.)

Ballacraine Halt is shown as being between Crosby and Union Mills. I think this is a mistake. Crosby links to the town as opposed to the railway station article - I will fix this.

2. Other facilities/structures - I've already mentioned Ramsey harbour (see above). My understanding is that "Milntown oil siding" served Ramsey Power station and that's how it appears on my Ramsey line template. I will wikilink Glen Mooar viaduct. I also think that the River Neb bridges should be shown. Finally the Port Erin line is shown as "to Port St. Mary".

3. Colours - I actually quite like what MJroots has done here but, strictly speaking, my understanding was that blue was reserved for light railways/metro systems. I think that using the different colours adds value to the article though - opinions? If we were being very picky, the Foxdale branch was never owned by the MNR only operated by them - at first on behalf of the Foxdale Railway Co. Ltd. and the liquidators after this company went bankrupt.

Having previewed this, it seems like a criticism - sorry about this, that is certainly not my intention. I think that there is much that is good in this article (and much that wants improving in my contributions I'm sure!). I welcome any discussion on these matters - the IOM railways are very dear to my heart!

Best Witchwooder (talk) 09:24, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Reply - I showed Ramsey Harbour as a branch as it was not accessed via the passenger platforms, but from a set of points before the station. (Manx Northern Railway book by R Preston Hendry and R Powell Hendry, p20). I will alter St. Johns to show the MNR station as a HST at the next level above the IMR station, this is probably a truer representation. Will change Ramsey and Milntown to sidings rather than depots. Will change Port St. Mary to Port Erin. Colours - I can change the diagram to show the MNR and Foxdale as separate colours if required. Have already discussed reasons for using different colours on Witchwooder's talk page. Think there was one short lived halt not currently on the diagram - not sure of exact position, served a zoo or rare breeds centre or something? Mjroots (talk) 11:54, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * The missing halt I suspect is Ballavolley which served a wild life park. See template:Ramsey line. With regard to colours, although the uses are not set in stone, clicking the "legend" link from the line diagram gives a contradictory key. - best Witchwooder (talk) 14:13, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

I think that the MNR diagram should replace the Ramsey line template (with the best features of each retained). As I intimated above, I like the idea of using colours in this way. I propose moving the graphics to template:Manx Northern Railway and of superseding template:Ramsey line. Best Witchwooder (talk) 13:12, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Some more thoughts - Maybe a separate MNR template is required after all. The MNR template maybe should show the route as it was under the MNR and therefore features such as the oil siding (which was put in the 1960's) would be omitted. Best Witchwooder (talk) 13:36, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I'd say retain the oil siding, but add a note on its opening date to the text. Mjroots (talk) 14:55, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

MNR template talk page
I have started a talk page on the template - please see my latest comments there. Best Witchwooder (talk) 09:10, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Merger proposal: Milntown Railway into Manx Northern Railway?
I propose to merge Milntown Railway into Manx Northern Railway. The short-lived spur called "Milntown Railway" was apparently a part of the Manx Northern main line from which it branched off and had no separate administration so that the content in the former article can easily - and perhaps even better since there is significant overlap - be explained in the context of the latter. Article size should be no problem. --Schlosser67 (talk) 15:39, 19 May 2019 (UTC)
 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 19:36, 15 April 2020 (UTC)