Isle of Man Railway - Timetabling

Timetabling

From its inception the railway operated an intensive service throughout the year, with restricted services in the winter months; the compant rarely operated dedicated goods or freight trains, with most services being mixed with passenger and goods stock (notable exceptions include major works such as transportation of materials for the completion of an airfield in the north of the island). This pattern of operation continued until 1965 when the railway was closed "for essential maintenance to take place".

In the event no trains ran in 1966 but the following year it reopened on a seasonal basis as a tourist attraction as detailed above; the following season with 1968 proving to be the last seasons for the Peel and Ramsey lines, and from 1969 only the southern route to Port Erin has operated. Services generally operated from May to September thereafter, notably only running between Port Erin and Castletown in 1975, and Port Erin and Ballasalla in 1976. Various timetables were experimented with in the early period of nationalisation with no trains operating on Saturdays for a number of years until 1987, among other changes.

The complete southern line has been operated every year since 1977, the last year of operation by the Railway Company prior to nationalisation. Aside from the popular Santa Trains which have operated since 1985, out of season running (generally between May and September) was uncommon until 2009 when a number of experimental services were tested, expanding the running season somewhat. The season now commonly commences at the end of February although services do not operate daily until Easter.

The season now extends until the first weekend of November to tie in with the Ride The Rocket Bonfire Night service and schools' half term. Today there are various timetables that operate at different times of the season, with the peak version seeing three train sets in service and six departures from each termini, the last one being at approximately 7.00pm depending on the operating pattern. Special event days often see bespoke timetables in operation with additional services often providing shuttle services to intermediate stations, usually Ballasalla and Castletown although Port St. Mary has also been served by these shuttles.