Isle of Man Railway Co, BUS WAR Oct 1927 blue card double sided 7.5 x 10 ins display TT
This 7.5 x 10 ins blue card timetable is a one is a one off spare copy from my collection, and it is one of the most unusual IMR timetables there is as it is a display card TT but with one hole not two and a hanging string. It is double sided with identical data on both sides. Most IMR double sided TTs have details on fares, parcels rates on the back!
It gives just start times from Peel, Ramsey, Port Erin and Douglas and not intermediate times, so in this is similar to the MER and quite unlike normal IMR timetables. It is a non standard size and is printed on blue card which is most unusual, and is by a printer who otherwise does not seem to have done much work for the IMR, 'The Victoria Press, Lawyork Chambers'.
In effect everything about it is unusual and it is issued by AM Sheard as 'Asst Sec & Manager' a title used from when Thos Stowell was hastily retired by the IMR board at the height of the bus war in the summer of 1927 and Sheard appointed to run the railway, under 'Assistant' title for just a few months.
It is a one off chance of a TT of a design I have never seen any other examples save my file copy and this one.
Compared to the beautiful pre-1918 illuminated pictorial timetables it is plain and unexciting, but in rarity terms, it towers above them. ============================================
Ailsa Isle of Man Victorian Steam Railway 1968 South Line timetable horizontal format
This 7.5 x 10 ins timetable on pale gray paper is a one is a one off spare copy from my collection, and it is another unusual IMR timetable. In 1967, the IMR was run by Sir Philip Wombwell for Lord Ailsa but in 1968 the Marquess ran the line himself. Timetables were quite unlike any produced before or since and were half way between a timetable and a handbill. Most had the IMRCo 'Mannin' printing block on them and were subtitled 'The unique Victorian Steam Railway.'
Stations are commonly set out in a vertical column and train times read down the train columns. On this timetable the stations are set out across the page, DOUGLAS BALLASALLA CASTLETOWN PORT ST MARY PORT ERIN, instead of vertical
DOUGLAS BALLASALLA CASTLETOWN PORT ST MARY PORT ERIN
Train times are therefore read across the page. Like much IMVSR paperwork it was printed by Fred Osborne, Printer Laxey, whose print office was near the quay. Print quantities were small to keep costs down as the railway cost Lord Ailsa far more than expected, and at the end of the season it looked as if it would close again, but with a derisory grant from Tynwald, Ailsa did continue for another three years, and had Tynwald not been cheese paring would have gone on after 1971.
There is a tendency to see IMR paperwork in two periods, 'proper' stuff up to the closure in 1965, and preservation era stuff from 1967 and the latter has a low value like most preservation era paperwork. That should not be the case for 1967-68 as production quantities were low, styles were most unusual and most surplus stock was thrown away. The reason was that the IMVSR office was in the Station Booking hall block, which had to act as waiting room, booking hall, booking office, ticket store room, manager's office, station master's office, and financial records office. It was very cramped and old paperwork was often used for scrap jottings or thrown in the bin.
I was very lucky as a station master I knew said he was putting the previous year's file copies of timetables and handbills in the bin and asked if I wanted them! You can imagine the answer, so I had a substantial collection of the 1968 Ailsa managed paperwork, but there were very few duplicates. Without that, I would hardly have any 1968 paperwork!
The first train ex Port Erin is shown as departing at 10.10am but this has been altered in ink to 10.12am, and printings of both versions are known, sometimes the 10.10am version being manually corrected. as here!
The Port Erin line timetable was produced in several printings and on a variety of different colour papers, this example being on pale grey. However paradoxical it sounds, material of 1920-1929 survives in greater numbers than comparable timetables and handbills of 1968. Compared to the beautiful pre-1918 illuminated pictorial timetables it is plain and unexciting, but in rarity terms, it towers above them.
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IMR Isle of Man Railway 11 Nov 1940 Wartime Economy size timetable + late trains
When war broke out in 1939 no one could have anticipated the devastating blows of 1939-40, but paper shortages soon became apparent and paper was economized by reducing the size of timetables and cutting production runs, so people had to use copies longer and stocks were smaller. As a result wartime timetables for the IMR are exceptionally rare. It is not in perfect condition and the photo forms part of the description so please study it carefully. If I had a better copy for sale, then I would do so, but it is the only copy I have left for sale, so it is not perfect but it is at least something to cover a rare period.
The Foxdale service is now entirely bus, although freight trains taking spoil for Jurby and Andreas were running more often than before. St Germain's, Peel Road, Santon and Port Soderick were now request halts and except on Sats the last departures ex Douglas were 7.05pm. On a Saturday the 11.05pm ex Douglas got into Ramsey at 12.15am on Sunday morning!
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IMR Isle of Man Railway 6 Sept 1948 post war Economy size timetable With the end of hostilities one would have expected things would have got better as indeed rapidly happened in Germany despite massive destruction, but the UK recovery was much slower and rationing actually got worse, as there were no U boats sinking ships presumably! Paper remained in short supply so production standards remained low and print runs were trimmed, so 1945-49 timetables are as rare as 1940-45 issues! This 6-9-48 is one of the better examples to have survived.
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IOM 5-9-1938 Isle of Man Railway 12 x 10 paper display IMR timetable 67 narrow gauge trains
Although there was competition, with speeded up train services, steam heat, vacuum brakes, various 2, 3 ,4 and 7 day tickets, the 1930s was the golden era of the IMR unlike many narrow gauge lines which closed down. In no small measure it was due to the brilliant manager Allan Sheard and this 1938 TT although it is a September issue shows the railway at its peak efficiency.with trains from 6.45am until 10.00pm.
As I do not plan to eliminate any timetables from my personal collection, there will only be a limited number of spare items I can offer and this is in esp fine condition. It has to be a subjective opinion as too little material has survived to permit proper statistical analysis, but my impression is that in pre-1914 days the IMR was like many railways 'comfortable' and could over produce all sorts of paper work, but after the start of the bus war, and then the Great Depression from 1929, there was a cut back in all sorts of expenses. In my personal collection, I have a better range of 1920s timetables than 1930s issues. The thirties are NOT as scarce as WW2, when production was drastically curtailed to save paper. ================================================================
IOM 22-9-1931 Isle of Man Railway 12 x 10 card display IMR timetable
Although there was competition, with speeded up train services, steam heat, vacuum brakes, various 2, 3 ,4 and 7 day tickets, the 1930s was the golden era of the IMR unlike many narrow gauge lines which closed down. In no small measure it was due to the brilliant manager Allan Sheard and this 1938 TT although it is a September issue shows the railway at its peak efficiency.with trains from 6.45am until 11.00pm.
As I do not plan to eliminate any timetables from my personal collection, there will only be a limited number of spare items I can offer and this is my only spare for this issue, although the card is fragile as noted in the condition section and there are corners broken off. To protect it I think it needs to be framed as it is still a nice item as well as being rare.
As I have said elsewhere, it has to be a subjective opinion as too little material has survived to permit proper statistical analysis, but my impression is that in pre-1914 days the IMR was, like many railways 'comfortable' and could over-produce all sorts of paper work, but after the start of the bus war, and then the Great Depression from 1929, there was a cut back in all sorts of expenses. In my personal collection, I have a better range of 1920s timetables than 1930s issues. The thirties are NOT as scarce as WW2, when production was drastically curtailed to save paper, so is probably between the Stowell era in the 1920s and the WW2 'save paper' era in numbers. Whether less material was produced, hence there were less left overs at the end of each timetable, or whether they were distributed better, or perhaps more were thrown out, is not possible to say, so all I can say is that in rarity terms 1873-1900 is rarity 1; and my guess is 1939-1949 is rarity 2, and on that basis 1930-1939 would be rarity 3. It is NOT in perfect condition, but I do not have a better example.
IMR 10 x 12.5 card display TT which has probably been displayed at a station as the card is fragile and slightly yellowed which is consistent with display in a window or in sunlight.. There is an approx 3/4" ins triangle of card broken off at the LH corner and a small piece broken off at the RH corner but neither affect the text of even the ornamental frame. There is a small 1/4 ins tear on the LH margin. It is NOT perfect but early 1930s TTs are rare and it is the best available. I have not scanned the bottom as the card is fragile.. Photo forms part of description |
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orig IMR Isle of Man Railway 29-5-1914 Pocket Timetable plan of Douglas & map of Island
This 4 x 5" folding pocket timetable opens into 8 panes, a front title page, a rear map of the Island page, a double page spread of the late May 1914 timetable and when opened fully the four inner panes are a map of Douglas with suggested walking routes from as far away as Pulrose to the railway station. As noted in condition one fold has separated for approx half its length, but this was not uncommon with these folding pocket timetables. Advertising slogans appear in red around the map. On weekdays and Sundays it gives details of over 100 trains, about 80 of them on a weekday.
A very rare and significant item, even though one fold has partially separated.
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orig Isle of Man Railway IMR 1.75" dia 1886 guards watch back timetable early TT
This astonishing survivor, a 1.75" diameter timetable was intended to be pasted into the back of a fob watch and is a remarkable contrast to some of the large poster timetables we have sold. It is the only issue I have ever seen, but presumably there were others which have not survived. It contains details of the Douglas-St Johns-Peel trains and the Port Erin trains but not the Ramsey trains as relations with the MNR were very bad at this time but to the imminent opening of the Foxdale line! It is certainly the smallest IMR timetable I have ever seen!
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Guide to Acommodation with Folding 1911 July timetable
The IOM government did little to help tourism, so the IMR produced a list of hotels, boarding houses, lodgings etc. This is a rare copy of the 1911 issue. it includes the timetable for 1 July 1911, a short write up about the island and most of the rest of the 26 page book is devoted to places where visitors could stay. Holidaymakers could write to the IMR and ask for a copy and station masters received a supply to help guests who asked where they could stay.
To keep the lists up to date, the station master returned a copy at the end of the season with any updates. This book was sent to Port Soderick for use there and returned to head office with amendments for the next season.
There is some discoloration of the paper as can be seen in the scan and a crease. The staple after 100+ years is rusty, but if I am that good after 100 years I shall be pleased! The back cover has some damage with a small piece missing,
As well as being a pre-1914 timetable, of which very few exist, it is an example of railway tourist promotional material. The work of the GWR in this field is legendary, but the IMR was working in the same highly competitive field.
Very little information has ever been available on these timetables, but I discovered a letter from J A Brown of the IOM Times which tells the story. An early lodging house list had been produced up to 1907, but a new version appeared in 1908 with a print run of 3,500 which Brown charged the IMR £8/15/- for. The railway company felt they were overcharged and Brown analysed the job, and the differences between the old and new types. The old one needed two runs on the printing machine, one for the lodging list and one for the timetable so that was 7000 runs. The new list had a grey thick paper cover which was one run; the folding timetable was a second run, 16 pages of the inside was a 3rd run and to get to 24 pages a fourth run was needed. The old list was not tabulated but the new one was and Brown estimated their profit on 3500 lists as 15 shillings (75p).This detail has never appeared before so I felt it worth including.
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IMR Isle of Man Railway Co 4 July 1938 folding combined bus & rail timetable
By 1938 the world was climbing out of recession and the combined railway and bus services of the Isle of Man Railway had weathered the storm of hostile bus competition and the Great Depression. Services were faster and better run than in 1914 so the railway was in many ways at its zenith.
After producing folding bus only timetables in 1932, A M SHeard adopted the combined folding bus and rail timetable that was to characterise the SHeard era until his death in 1965 and was briefly used by Evan Cain and Bill Lambden. Few of the pre-war combined folding bus and rail TTs have survived so this is a rare chance to add a classic item to your collection. As it became the primary TT of the IMR/IMRS why so few survive is surprising. Perhaps it was that they were so widely sold (and there were complimentary copies too) that the print run tended to be exhausted.
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IMR Proof timetable 2-7-1923 Isle of Man Railway with hand written corrections
This is another remarkable survivor as it is a proof timetable with hand written corrections made to it for the high season timetable of 2-7-1923 which was the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Peel line. It is on quite fragile printers galley proof paper, so is slightly yellowed with age and damaged on LH edge, two 'bites' being patched 11.5 x 21" to save futher loss of material. Proof copies of timetables are exceptionally rare as they are often retained by the printer to provide a record of what instructions he received and then disposed of.
In many years collecting, I have seen very few proof copies and I have probably the most comprehensive collection in existence.
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IMR 20 x 11" probable Proof timetable 21-9-1926 Isle of Man Railway due to paper
Our 1923 Timetable in this section was definitely a printer's proof, but this one is uncertain. IMR timetables except in time of war were printed on good quality paper and this is a low quality paper, consistent with the paper used for printers' proof sheets. I would be surprised if a timetable for public display was on such poor paper quality and as the general strike was long over, it was unlikely to be due to paper shortages.
It is to the 20 x 11 format which was one of many odd sizes the IMR produced. It has the benefit of getting parcels, conditions and ticket availability on the front of the sheet, but occupies a lot of space so hotels would NOT welcome it, but it is not legible from a distance like the timetable posters, and is too big for a pocket TT.
From many years experience of IMR timetables the quality of the paper suggests a proof copy, but that must be an opinion based on probabilities. Whatever it is, it is rare.
=============================================================================== IMR Autumn 1926 IMR Isle of Man Railway & IOMSPCo independent timetable booklet
This is the most remarkable Isle of Man Railway timetable it has ever been my good fortune to be able to offer for sale, and if I dod not have a file copy it would NOT be on offer! Why is it so exceptional? \It is a timetable booklet, but the IMR issued timetable booklets and we have had a handful of sale. More than that it covers not just the IMR but the IOMSPCo sailings as well, and is the only item I have seen covering both. That makes it unusual, but it is not produced by the IMR or the IOMSPCo. Indeed on the back cover, it says, 'ISLE OF MAN RAILWAY TIME TABLE UNOFFICIAL'
It is produced by R K Kermode, chemists of Castletown, Port St Mary & Port Erin as a promotional venture, and apart from the IMR and IOMSPCo services, it contains the tide tables for Douglas,and sun rise and sun set times for December 1926, plus a series of adverts for proprietary medicines which were available from Kermodes.
The shipping sailings cover the period from 1-10-1926 to 22-12-1926 and note there are certain additional sailings per the SS Fenella, which is described as a small passenger and cargo steamer. My father remembered this boat of 1881 and she was very slow! The railway timetable is from 21 Sept 1926 although the back of the Kermode TT says it is for December 1926. so my guess is that it is the Dec 1926 issue of Kermode's timetable booklet.
I had three copies, the first of which went into my collection. I mentioned it to a specialist IOM collector and he staked a claim for it instantly so that was goodbye to the second copy, so this is the remaining copy.
I do not know how long Kermodes did their own timetables, and I have never seen any other issue. It could be for years and I have just not chanced on one, but I have never heard of them or met anyone who has!
It is a chance for the collector to add a truly extraordinary IMR IOMSPCo timetable to their collection. If anyone else has any information, do please let me know.
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Isle of Man Railway IMR timetable 3-3-1941 RARE wartime from NEWSPAPER
From the 1870s until the 1940s at least, the IMR published its timetables in the leading local newspapers and old papers can be a source of timetables, but whilst they would once have been cut up to provide a timetable, are now collectors items in their own right. This timetable is from a collection of press cuttings made years ago and shows the train services from March 1941
By this time, the airbases and training camps on the Island led to heavy demands on a Saturday evening for late trains to take the forces pesonnel back to Ronaldsway, Jurby, Andreas, and the many lesser forces establishments, so the last train into Ramsey arrived at 12.15am! On a weekday there were seven southbound trains on the Ramsey line, the last ex Ramsey at 6.10pm, but trains 15, 19, 21 and 23 extended a 7 train service to 11 trains! On the reverse are advert for tyres and tobacco. This timetable is a fascinating contrast with the 1936 issue we put on ebay as the news on the back of that was headlined, MANX SCHOOLGIRLS FOR GERMANY, and how a party of German schoolgirls visited the Buchan School in 1935, and how in 1936 a group of Buchan girls was visiting Breslau. It had been confidently asserted that one could arrange an international spirit by arranging exchanges of holidays for school children. It was a nice spirit but ignored the grim reality of Hitler as we see five years later when late trains are provided for the servicemen who must fight against Hitler's Germany.
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1936 Isle of Man Railway IMR timetable 21-9-36 from contemporary NEWSPAPER
From the 1870s until the 1940s at least, the IMR published its timetables in the leading local newspapers and old papers can be a source of timetables, but whilst they would once have been cut up to provide a timetable are now collectors items in their own right. This timetable is from a collection of press cuttings and shows the train services from late September 1936. On the reverse is local news, commencing with the local Rotarian club whose president was J M Cain who later became chairman of the Isle of Man Railway Co. Another item is headlined, MANX SCHOOLGIRLS FOR GERMANY, which explains that a party of German schoolgirls visited the Buchan School in 1935, and how in 1936 a group of Buchan girls was visiting Breslau. It was confidently asserted that one could arrange an international spirit by arranging exchanges of holidays for school children. It was a nice spirit but ignored the grim reality of Hitler.
The Parochial Tea was held at St George's Church Hall, which survived as a church hall until the 1980s when it was misused as an auxilliary Courthouse and then passed into other not church use.
==================================================== IMR Isle of Man Railway 30x22" giant poster Timetables 12 May 1932 superb & rare
This magnificent May 1932 poster timetable is printed in the medium blue shade used by the IMRCo from before World War One for its large poster timetables. Unusually the Ramsey services appear at the top of the timetable and the last train leaves Douglas on a Saturday at 11.00pm arriving in Ramsey at 12.19am!
A true treat for the serious collector |
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