Manx Name: Balley Volley
Preceding: Ballaugh
Distance: 19 Miles, 10 Chains (From Douglas)
Opened: 1st June 1965 (Appears On Timetable)
Closed: 6th September 1968
Origns
Having been for most of its existance a simple level crossing complete with crossing keepers cottage, when the island's first and only Wild Life Park opened in the nearby Ballaugh Curraghs in 1965 the Railway Company was quick to establish a halt at this location. Consisting simply of a post and wire fenced area and cut grass where before had been hedgerows, this halt operated only for the railway's final two seasons. Until roadworks were undertaken in 2003 there were still sections of rail in place on the tarmacadam on the approach to the park but today there is little evidence that the railway ever passed this spot, aside from the remarkably straight trackbed that dissects the park entrance. Today the park itself is the home to the Orchid Line miniature railway.
The following is taken from the January 1979 edition of Manx Steam Railway News and was penned by Julian Edwards: "in the appendix at the back of J.I.C. Boyd's book on the Isle of Man Railway, among the Northern Railway's managers' reports may be found a bare fact that in 1882, there was a siding provided to Ballavlley Quarry. The quarry referred to is the lower of two above the Wild Life Park on the hillside to the south. It is now almost hidden by trees, but in those days was providing slate slab of good quality for buildings as it came out in quite large pieces and squared off nicely. This siding can still be easily traced as it branched off to the south-west of the main line just west of the level crossing, and curved across the field on what is now a well-grassed bank, to what is now a belt of trees. These conceal what was formerly a loading bank, connected to the quarry by an inclined tramway leading over the rad andup the edge of a field but the steepening upper part may still be traced as a rocky embankment, leading into the trees surrounding the quarry.. The incline was worked on the usual system of a full wagon descending being used to pull up an empty wagon ascending the incline. Boys were hired by the owners to protect the road crossing. Hailing the Manx Northern wagons loading with stone into Ramsey was one of Cale's (M.N.R. No. 4) first turns of duty. Once in Ramsey the stone was used in late Victorian developments especially around the Mooragh Park where progress was brought to a sudden halt when Dumbells Bank failed at the turn of the century. The quarry traffic is believed to have ceased at about the same time and the siding removed."
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