St. John’s Station

Station Name:

Date Opened:

Date(s) Closed:

Lines Served:

Coordinates:

Postal Address:

From Douglas:

Current Status:

St. John’s

1st July 1873

7th September 1968

Peel / Foxdale / Ramsey

54°12′04″N 4°38′29″W 

Station Road, St. John’s

8 Miles, 40 Chains

Closed & Lifted

Established as the main crossing point for trains from the line's earliest days and expanded to become the busiest junction on the railway serving three lines.  From opening a third class timber structure at the western end of the line served as ticket office and porters' store, for many years the domain of Mr. George Crellin, long-term station master and well-known railway employee who retired into the former Foxdale Line station house across the road which remains in his family's possession to this day.  A carriage shed followed and points box controlling the yard, as well as a passenger footbridge which was demolished in 1944, the brick bases for which then served as stores.  A level crossing bisected the Peel and Ramsey lines at the western end of the yard, their joint single lines stretching out to the distance.


There was an island platform here and two outer platform faces which served both the Peel and Ramsey lines, through workings from Douglas often being double-headed by two locomotives and split into two portions on arrival.  This was a common working and is well documented.  Thereafter the two portions often had an unofficial "race" westbound which was another well known operational trait of the railway for many years.  A goods yard was provided on the northerly extent with cattle dock and advertisement hoardings, and the carriage turntable and shed were located across the road from the station site on their own dedicated spur. Latterly this area, togetther with the closed Foxdale Line, were used for the storage of redundant freight rolling stock.


After the final passenger trains called here in September 1968 there were still a handful of workings, notably oil traffic and the movement of unrequired rolling stock for winter storage in the carriage shed which lasted until 1974; a disastrous fire in the carriage shed on 10th December 1975 saw many carriages fall victim to the flames, the remains being destroyed by controlled fire the following June and thereafter there was little or no trace of the station.  Today the rail supports for the old advertisement hoarding remain, as does the bridge that carried the Foxdale Line at the eastern end of the station; the site is now a car parking area with the goods yard home to a new primary school which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2000.

Station Building / Carriage Shed / Points Box / Pedestrian Bridge / Water Towers / Cattle Dock / Goods Yard