IOM Isle of Man Railway 4 Special Day Excursion tickets 1900s-1950s set G very varied

The Isle of Man Railway issued a vast range of Excursion, Special Excursion and Special Day Excursion tickets, and there seems to have been needless variety which must have made the ticket collectors' job a lot harder.  This set includes a 1st class Special Day Excursion Douglas to Peel printed on pink over yellow, yellow being a common colour for 1st class, but so was white. This ticket has the later Warerlow's open sans serif R so it is a late Waterlow's issue, prior to the 1950s switch to Williamsons.

Next to it we have what at first sight is a similar Port St Mary to Douglas SDE with a pink upper half. However the lower half is not as deep yellow as the previous ticket but  either very pale yellow or arguably off white, and it is a Third Class SDE. In the dull light at night, it must have been very difficult to identify a 1st and 3rd SDE by colour as is the main purpose of the colour coding. It has the original black serif R on the return END as it was at the foot unlike the previous ticket which has outward half and return half high up!  To my eye, the lower half was arguably off white rather than pale yellow but Elena said yellow as did the scanner, which seems to prove the point that such minor differences were pointless.

A red-white-red SDE, Port St Mary to Douglas provides the same facilities as the previous ticket and has the same serif R, but is quite different in colouring.

Our fourth SDE is Peel to Port St Mary or Port Erin an unusual alternative destination ticket and is the oldest example as it predates the use of the R imprint on the return half. It is in off white, pale yellow and off white. If one looks at the red-white-red ticket the white there is a chalk white, so is the Peel to Port St Mary/Port Erin intended to be white, off white or even ultra pale coffee as it seems slightly darker than the ultra pale yellow of the Port St Mary-Douglas SDE.

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Two different rare Isle of Man Railway Green-White-Orange Excursion Tickets one with faults

The majority of tickets produced by any railway company bore a strong family likeness, but as with most companies, the Isle of Man Railway had exceptions, and the Green-White-Orange “Tricolour” pattern excursion tickets are another of the oddities that were used for a time. These tickets bear the black filled-in serif R overprint adopted towards the end of the Nineteenth century, the Conditions and Regulations notice adopted at that time and the small child repeater in the centre of the ticket at the base. Half moon snippers were used to convert adult tickets to child tickets, and the snipped portions sent to head office to explain the lower fare collected. If the snip did not repeat the names of the start and destination points, accounting would be difficult.  The Port Erin to Douglas SPECIAL EXCURSION is properly printed, as is almost universal with IMR tickets which came from the legendary print firm of Waterlow.  The Ballaugh to Ramsey ticket, on the other hand, is very strange.   The R Overprint is broken where the horizontal stroke joins the vertical stem of the R, and the OUTWARD HALF and RETURN HALF lettering is very blurred, suggesting the die was badly worn. These faults are common on every example I have seen of these tickets, suggesting it was a production fault not just a faulty example.

I have seen tens of thousands of Isle of Man Railway Co tickets over the past fifty years. Whilst defects were not unknown after Waterlow ceased to print IMRCo tickets, to find a defect on a Waterlow ticket is unusual and to find a whole print run with major defects is in my experience unique.

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3 Isle of Man Railway "Three Legs of Mann" emblem Rail/Sea Excursion Tickets

This set of three Isle of Man Railway Rail/Sea Excursion Tickets is unusual as it has a Three Legs of Man overprint on the outward and return halves of the ticket. The Peel & North of Ireland SS Co ran a service from Peel to Belfast in 1889, but the service only operated for a few months, and the company ceased operations. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Co took over the service in 1890, running occasional sailings until 1914. These three return excursion tickets may date from the start of the IOMSPCo services in 1890, or a few years later. They consist of a First Class rail and Saloon passage by steamer excursion  (pink/white), a Third Class rail and Saloon passage by sea (red/lilac) and a Third Class Rail and Steerage passage by sea (white/green).  The reason there are two 3^rd class rail tickets is that the difference in quality between first and third class rail was not a great deal, but on the boats steerage was a lot poorer although cheaper than saloon, so some passengers would economise on the rail journey but wanted better accommodation by sea. The service ended in 1914. 

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The Tour has been referred to in Boyd's book on the IOM and has entered Folklore on account of its nature, but these tickets are an actual link with a remarkable traffic promotion idea in the pre-1914 Gplden Age of railways.

 

NOTE The ticket supplied will be identical to the illustration, but the ticket illustrated is a sample, to save scanning identical items repeatedly.

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Isle of Man Rail & Bus WEEKLY TICKETS 1939 Series   

This pair of Isle of Man WEEKLY GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE TICKETS were an idea developed by A M Sheard, the outstanding manager of the combined rail and bus services from the 1920s to 1965. His motto was that the important thing was not to attract traffic to rail or bus, BUT to ATTRACT TRAFFIC. To do so he produces a wide range of one, two, three, four and seven day special offers. The Weekly tickets, which measure 3.5 x 2.75 ins, used the phrase GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE, and were available for RAIL only or BUS and RAIL services, the rail issues being green and the combined issues white. Before the war, the tickets were pre-printed with the year of issue, and this set comprised one each of the rail and combined tickets. To distinguish between adult and child issues, the corner was clipped on the child tickets, meaning that both of these items are children’s tickets. The fare for  week’s unlimited travel by rail was 5/-, or 25p in decimal terms, and 7/6d for the combined issue (37.5p).Think what sixty years of inflation had done !

 

NOTE The two tickets supplied will be identical to the illustration, but the ticket illustrated is a sample, to save scanning identical items repeatedly.  the third ticket in the photo is to show the wording on the back.  you are buying two tickets

 

NOTE The ticket supplied will be identical to the illustration, but the ticket illustrated is a sample, to save scanning identical items repeatedly.

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Isle of Man Rail & Bus WEEKLY TICKETS undated but 1930s printing.

undated tickets were produced and a set appears in a different listing

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Six Isle of Man Railway 2 3 4 Day GAYP Tickets UNDATED 1940 printing

Go-As-YOU-Please tickets were introduced on the Isle of Man Railway c1933, the range building up to embrace 2, 3 4 and 7 day rail or bus and rail options. They were colour coded, often differing from year to year, and most early issues seem to have been printed with the year of issue. In the hope that the war would come to a speedy end, the Isle of Man Railway Co ordered a supply of 2,3 and 4 day tickets for 1940, but prudently decided not to date them, in case Hitler had not been beaten within a few months!  This caution proved well placed, and the 1940 series were actually in issue after the war for a while. This selection consists of six tickets, being the 2 day GAYPs white with two blue bands, the child ticket having the corner cropped.  The three day issue is white with three pink bands, whilst the four day issue is white with four yellow bands.

NOTE The tickets supplied will be identical to the illustration, but the tickets illustrated are a sample, to save scanning identical items repeatedly.

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Isle of Man Railway re-priced 1940 2 Day GAYP Ticket - data for reference only

Go-As-YOU-Please tickets were introduced on the Isle of Man Railway c1933, the range building up to embrace 2, 3 4 and 7 day rail or bus and rail options. They were colour coded, often differing from year to year, and most early issues seem to have been printed with the year of issue. In the hope that the war would come to a speedy end, the Isle of Man Railway Co obtained a supply of 2,3 and 4 day tickets for 1940, but prudently decided not to date them, in case Hitler had not been beaten within a few months !  This caution proved well placed, and the 1940 series were actually in issue after the war for a while. We have on offer a selection of six tickets depicting the child and adult 2, 3 and 4 day tickets. [See Elsewhere in this selection}

This is A SINGLE TICKET.

It has been rubber stamped with 6/- instead of 5/- to allow for post war inflation.  Apart from the overprint, it is a standard undated (1940) TWO DAY GO-As-YOU-PLEASE adult ticket.

 

NOTE The ticket supplied will be identical to the illustration, but the ticket illustrated is a sample, to save scanning identical items repeatedly.

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Six c1900 Isle of Man Railway HOTEL Return tickets

This selection of six First and Third Class return tickets have often confused ticket collectors. They follow the normal IMR colour code of white and yellow for First Class Returns and blue and pink for Third Class Returns, but bear two horizontal red bands. The number series duplicates the main ticket series from Douglas to the various outstations, and the availability period is unusual, being 14 days for the outward and return portions. They are, in fact, HOTEL Tickets. The IOMR issued blocks of specially printed tickets, distinguished by these red bands to leading hotels in Douglas, the hotels issuing the tickets to their guests to save them having to queue at the booking office for the morning trains out of Douglas. Major destinations were covered, such as Port St Mary and Peel, whilst Ballasalla or Port Soderick are also popular, but it is surprising that Santon was included, as few holiday makers must have opted to make a return journey to Santon ! They apparently predate the adoption of the large black R for RETURN imprint in 1910, so probably date from somewhere between 1900 and 1910. The SIX tickets in this selection comprise Douglas to Port St Mary First and Third class Returns, Douglas to Ballasalla and Peel first returns and Douglas to Port Soderick and Santon third class returns, providing a variety of destinations. On the First class returns the conditions notice on the reverse is printed the right way up. On the third class returns it is printed upside down relative to the face !

 

NOTE The tickets supplied will be identical to the illustration, but the tickets illustrated are a sample, to save scanning identical items repeatedly.

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^{Isle of Man Manx Northern Railway Excess Luggage ticket}

^{The Manx Northern Railway opened in 1879 and was taken over by the Isle of Man Railway Co in 1904, the line from St John’s to Ramsey closing in 1968. Salvage drives in World War One and Two resulted in most MNR paperwork being destroyed, so that original MNR forms are quite rare. This MNR Excess Luggage ticket was printed by C B Heyes of the Courier print works in Ramsey, which makes it unusual as little paperwork from C B Heyes is known. It comes from a book of Excess Luggage tickets, and was issued to a passenger when the quantity of luggage he was taking with him exceeded the free allowance. It was issued by the station clerk, and a slip was handed to the passenger, showing the total weight of luggage, the allowed weight, the weight charged and destination. It is in excellent condition, and is printed in black on yellow unwatermarked paper.}

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IMR Isle of Man Railway School or Scout party tickets 1959-1960 summer memories! To thousands of children, whether they lived in the Isle of Man or visited it with the School party, the Scouts, Boys Brigade, an abiding memory is a group trip on the train, perhaps to Kirk Michael for Glen Wyllin or to Peel or Port Erin. The adults would be rushing around counting everyone to see they had not lost a child or two, and they would be hustled into the carriages and off the train went with a shriek of the whistle. It was fun!  It was also important to the Isle of Man Railway as traffic had been falling and school parties etc brought in much needed revenue to keep the railway running. How important was it?  No one seems to have made much effort to consider this but a small stock of 1959-1960 issued H M Forces tickets has survived, and school parties travelled on group H M Forces tickets, so one ticket would be made out for perhaps 50 children and several frantic adults! As I looked through the material, I realised we had a few days where we could put together three different tickets for a single day. Sometimes it was Scouts, or Girl Guides, of the Boys Brigade, of School parties from local or visiting schools or Sunday schools. Sometimes everything was filled in by hand; sometimes rubber stamps were used for some details and inevitably there were times when the name was so badly written that only the school could work out who they were. These tickets provide a look into a long gone world of happy memories so are a fun item; they are social history and economic history as they show an important financial prop to keep the IMR running. I have sorted sets of three tickets in DATE order. I MIGHT add that a few H M Forces tickets were still used for their intended purpose as Jurby RAF base still operated, but compared to World War Two when military traffic predominated, it was now the exception.  =================================================  Isle of Man Douglas Board of Guardians order to IMR railway for ticket 1914 Some of the most unusual items asociated with passenger traffic were the ticket warrants issued by various organisations and which were presented to the booking clerk for a reduced rate or free pass. This warrant is from the Douglas Board of Guardians who made provision for poor and destitute persons and is for a ticket by train in 1914. Such material is exceptionally rare giving this item great historic appeal. ====================================================== Yorkshire Traction IOM Victorian Steam Railway rail ticket issued by bus company This 6 x 4" paper ticket is issued by the Yorkshire Traction Co of Barnsley for a return journey on the Isle of Mann Victorian Steam Railway which was the name used from 1969 to 1972, Yorkshire Traction operated coach tours to the Isle of Man and were an important aspect of the tourism scene on the Island. They decided that a rail excursion as a part of their package holidays would be popular so holiday makers were given a YT paper ticket to present at the booking office. Yorkshire Traction had commenced life as a tramway company in Barnsley adding motor buses and abandoning its trams in 1930. Its headquarters in Upper Sheffield Road Barnsley included a joint tram and bus depot.and the Upper SHeffield Road address appears on the reverse of this rare bus company ticket. which was available by train

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