The Manx Northern Railway opened on 23rd September 1879 and was an entirely independent concern from the existing Isle of Man Railway Co., Ltd., with its own directorate, locomotives and rolling stock.  But until 6th November 1880, it was worked by the Isle of Man Railway which explains why the original ticket stocks from north line stations are titled “Isle of Man Railway Coy., Limited”.  

Few examples of these survive today.  Foxdale Line tickets were issued in the name of the Manx Northern Railway Co., Limited.  Note the consistent mis-spelling of “Wyllian” on the third class returns.  Waterfalls appears consistently with the “s” though this was not always the case on timetables.  St. Germains appears without the apostrophe, again in occasional conflict with timetable listings.

From 1880 the Manx Northern Railway issued its own tickets, and these were usually virtually identical in format and colouring with the contemporary I.M.R. issues, and had similar (often seemingly identical) advertisements for Greensill’s Mona Bouquet on their earlier tickets.  The word “Limited” appears consistenty bracketed throughout the issues of tickets held in the archive.

Only in the matter of the miniature repeats, and the fact that month returns issued in accordance with the Rules & Regulations (or Conditions and Regulations of the I.M.R.). was there any difference in ordinary tickets.  The excursion and Bike Singles were different, though Bike Returns have not been found thus far.  Upon the 1905 merger all ticket stocks were used up and the Manx Northern moniker was replaced.