Jersey Railway - The Route

The Route

The Jersey railway, in its final form, was a single track route with passing places at the termini, Millbrook, St Aubin and Don Bridge.

The main station at the Weighbridge (now Liberation Square) in St Helier was the operating headquarters of the line and featured an impressive building, glass roof and two platforms.

The locomotive sheds and maintenance workshops were also at this location. The workshops were capable of very heavy repair work and the manufacture of carriages - the distance from the mainland made the railway very self-sufficient.

Between St Helier and St Aubin, the railway ran a picturesque route along the seafront - between the beach and main promenade road (Victoria Avenue).

Millbrook station featured two platforms and a footbridge. It was moved and rebuilt on a new site in 1912 to make way for an extension to the seafront promenade.

St Aubin station, the original limit of operations, had two platforms and another impressive glass roof. When the line was extended to La Moye in 1884, an additional platform was added, bypassing the original terminus that continued in use for the St Helier - St Aubin trains.

After St Aubin, the railway turned sharply inland through a rock-lined tunnel and climbed steeply away from the sea, rising over 200 ft in 1.5 miles with gradients as steep as 1 in 30. The summit was reached just after Don Bridge Station. The track then dropped towards La Corbière where the substantial granite-built station overlooked the lighthouse. La Corbière station had a loop line but only one passenger platform.