Origins

Following the outbreak of war in 1914 holiday visitors to the island dropped dramatically.  An internment camp was built just south of Peel to house alien civilians and prisoners of war. and in order to transport the prisoners, a short branch railway was built from the Peel Line to serve the camp. The branch had a steep gradient and was worked exclusively by the ex-Manx Northern Railway locomotive "Caledonia".  To accommodate the transfer of goods to the camp an extension from Peel Station to the harbour was also built along the east quay.  During the war the line remained busy transporting internees and food.

Camp Life

The camp was originally designed to house 5,000 people, but by the end of the war it held almost 24,500 internees in a 22 acre site that was divided into 23 compounds divided between four camps each of which had its own hospital, theatre, etc.  Only male internees were held in the camps; the regime was harsh with many internees requesting transfers to other camps.

Later Use

When the camp closed in late 1919, many of the internees had served up to five years imprisonment and it was left partially open as a facility for these inmates to re-adjust to the outside world and find their feet prior to heading home to their respective countries.  The last traffic on the line was a year after the camp closed. Most of the internees were deported, many unwillingly as they had British wives or had settled in Britain before the war.

After Closure

The site was returned to its former state as Knockaloe Farm where an experimental agricultural station was established, and this is still in evidence today as a government-owned facility. The track was lifted in 1923 although some sources state that parts of it were extant until the following year.  All materials were sold to a locally based firm who then sold the rail, sleepers, etc., on to the railway company for further use.  It is unclear exactly where the station was located but as many island stations had no raised platforms it seems likely that the trains could stop where required along the main access road into the camp with a reception building close to the west end of the line. 

Today

A number of features remained a the site, such as the paved road into the farm which follows the course of the railway line. The wall lining the road is made up from floor slabs from the wooden huts that housed the internees.  Several meat sheds survive, now refurbished as private housing and at the far end of the road an engine shed survives amongst the farm buildings. The locomotive shed still exists as can be seen in the view accompanying this article, but this is the only trace of this unusual line's existence save for the very few photographs recording camp life taken at the time.