Special Events (2000-2008)
Special Events (2000-2008)
To Be Expanded...
Commemorating the Tercentenary of the Derby in 1971 the railway laid on a special train which was stowed on the goods siding for the return journey behind No.13 Kissack as seen here with regular driver John Elkin in an image courtesy of Steve Harris.
The diesel railcars calling at the station with a special train fo the Supporters' Association in 1975 when it temporarily served as the terminus during short line workings, extended to Ballasalla Station the following year, then back to Douglas in 1977.
Anniversary Day specials in 2023 marking the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Peel Line celebrated with a week-long festival and many headboards; the annual transport festival showcase a wide variety of these boards each and every year.
This illustrates No.8 Fenella at the head of the recently-arrived inaugural Rolling Lunch in 2013 which was the precursor to the enormously popular dining train which now operates regularly throughout the year and often terminates here.
An evening private charter in July of 2024 headed by No.11 Maitland which had arrived from the south after the end of the usual workings in the day, a somewhat unusual movement these days, the group specifically requesting pick-up from Castletown.
The Sir John Pender in 2023 was named in honour of a company director after whom a locomotive was also namedl hee No.13 Kissack carries the headboard on a return working as part of the anniversary day when all service trains were so decorated.
No.13 Kissack at the head of an evening special charter using the Bar Set of saloon carriages which now form the dining train, back in 1988 when such excursions were regular and often worked in conjunction with events at the nearby Viking Hotel.
Commemorating the late Mike Buttell in 2024 as No.13 Kissack arrives sporting one of many headboards with which the railway has become synonymous in recent times. The following year would see the entire family similarly honoured.
Recent years have see then the term legendary driver bandied around with seemingly gay abandon, and in 2022 it was the fortieth birthday of driver Paul Pressley; with tongues firmly in cheek this ad-hoc board was carried, he remains a legend (in his mind).