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| Station Name: |
Ballasalla |
| Manx Name: |
Balley Sallagh |
| Opened: |
1st August 1874 |
| Closed: |
September 1965 (Seasonally Since) |
| Distance (Douglas): |
8 Miles, 30 Chains |
| Preceding Station: |
Santon |
| Following Station: |
Ronaldsway Halt |
| Since opening in 1874 this station has been one of the south line's busiest, with the village having a busy marketplace which was once one of the largest on the island for trading in livestock. From opening the station boasted its own single-storey wooden station building to the same design as that still extant at Santon Station, but located on the down side of the line. Like many of the line's intermediate stations there were no platforms at the station. On the up side there is a water tower which was an early addition. For several years this tank had the name of the station painted on three of its sides, until replacement in the 1998 (for a time it was labelled Dhoon Quarry as the replacement tank had been used there for the Steam On Electric events beginning in 1993). |
Sidings and a cattle dock were also extant, only being lifted in 1974, leaving just one siding which still remains today. Goods storage provision in the early part of the twentieth century were provided by a redundant "E" class brake van; by 1922 a hut from the abandoned Knockaloe Camp was transferred here and this remained until the site was developed as offices. The goods yard site became a dumping ground for surplus rolling stock in 1974 and was the road access point for the scrappers to collect the rail from the redundant sections of line to Peel and Ramsey.
Rationalisation
By the time the yard was eventually lifted in 1985 it was a fraction of its size and only housed some goods vans and the railway's breakdown crane which was subsequently relocated to Castletown and, ultimately after cosmetic restoration, to the disused station at Union Mills on the old Douglas to Peel line. When the former cattle yard was sold off for office development the original station was also lost.
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Level Crossing
The south side of the station is the first time that the line crosses the main Douglas to Castletown road (although is does pass underneath it prior to this just beyond Santon Station and at the Blackboards Bridge) this was originally facilitated with traditional level crossing gates which survived until 1972 when automated gates were installed. These were replaced with automatic crossing barriers in 2001 as part of the railway's rebuilding in conjunction with the I.R.I.S. sewage scheme. The small level crossing keepers' hut remains in-situ, much modified when the first automatic gates were installed, but the building serves no purpose today.
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Later Years
The original wooden building was demolished in 1985 and replaced with a brick construction housing a small station master's ticket office, toilets and waiting area. This new building was opened in 1986 by the late Jack Nivision, the former President of the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man and M.H.K. for Middle. Prior to this, the station, along with many other intermediate stopping places on the line, did not provide passenger platforms. The new building however was built at platform height, and was capable of holding a five-coach train, later increased to seven. In 2002 the opposite side of the line also received a full-length platform, which also serves the goods siding; a this time a modern bus shelter was also installed on the down platform. The paved edging used to create this new platform was originally from the Port Erin departure platform at Douglas Station.
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Local Attractions
The station serves the local attractions at Silverdale Glen, a small park with boating pool and water-powered merry-go-round as well as the heritage site at Rushen Abbey operated by Manx National Heritage, which is just a short walk from the station itself; signs advising passengers to alight here for these attractions were a feature for many years. In 2008 the station received new nameboards which also denote the name in Manx Gaelic, the literal translation being "place of willow". The station is in the centre of the village a short distance from the shops, post office, commissioners' offices and the local hostelry the Whitestone Inn.
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Recent Times
In the 1970s prior to the nationalisation of the railway, the station was for a season the terminus of the line, with a short operation between Ballasalla and Port Erin being the only service in 1976. The previous year the line was shorter still, only offering travel between Port Erin and Castletown. However, in 1977 the South line opened once more in its entirety and has remained open ever since. Although now extensively modernised and not really recognisable as the station that existed until 1985 it remains one of the most picturesque settings on the line and is popular with photographers who get the opportunity to take images of two trains at once, this now serving as the only crossing place still in use on the line, since timetable changes in 2001 saw no further crossing trains at Castletown which has previously also been common practice
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Today
All the scheduled train service trains pass at Ballasalla now, but until 2001 certain trains were passed at the next station of Castletown. The station is well-known locally for its beautifully tended flower beds and hanging baskets, the pride of seasonal station master Jack Petri, himself a long-serving fireman and driver on the railway with twenty years' service. A vegetable garden also compliments the rear of the station, creating a peaceful rural scene. The station is still a popular one with local traffic, villagers using trains to visit either terminus owing to their close proximities to shopping areas.
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South Line (1874) 
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