Douglas Railway Station - Today

Today

The station today is a fraction of its original size but still retains one island platform protected by semaphore signals and domintated by a signal box which is unused and has been since 1970, though this was relocated when the area was redeveloped. The red brick station buildings are extant though these are now dwarfed by an office block to the rear which was constructed in 1988. The line's workshops and running sheds are also located here but public access to these is forbidden, and behind them are the carpenters' works, plant shop and paint shop (much work still being carried out in-house). Much of what was once railway property is now given over to bus storage and maintenance whilst the administrative offices for the line, the Manx Electric Railway and Bus Vannin lie at the end of the yard, incorporated into the bus garages. The carriage shed is at the mouth of the yard and only viewable from the passing trains, not the public areas of the station. Much of the adjacent car parking is contracted out to nearby offices, with a few spaces reserved for railway patrons. The vehicular entrance to the yard is also the bus stop for connecting services between the railway and the island's bus services. The eastern side of the station has been given over to a large supermarket chain, built on the site of a former timber yard. Only the Peel Line departure and arrival platforms remain in situ and these are now used by Port Erin-bound trains.