Particularly nowadays, in the age of low-cost carriers, the cost of airport parking can often exceed that of your flights themselves. As such, many passengers look to public transport as a cheaper way of accessing their chosen airport. Of course, not driving can also have sustainability benefits. Many airports have their own train stations, but one of these is rather smaller and more old-fashioned than most.

The airport in question

But which airport? To answer the big question posed by the title, the facility whose air-rail connection comes in the form of a narrow gauge steam railway is that of the Isle of Man. Located in Ronaldsway in the parish of Malew (one of seventeen on the island), Isle of Man Airport (IOM) is situated just seven miles (11 km) to the southwest of Douglas, which serves as the capital of the British Crown Dependency.

Isle Of Man Airport Sculpture

Photo: DorSteffen | Shutterstock

According to the airport’s website, motorcycle racing was a primary catalyst for the development of aviation on the Isle of Man in the 1920s, with scheduled passenger services from the island’s airport commencing the following decade. It was then taken over by the Armed Forces when the Second World War broke out, becoming known as RAF Ronaldsway. Commercial service recommenced in the post-war era.

Today’s operations

Today, the airport boasts multiple runways, as well as a relatively diverse route network. According to scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, 9,327 flights are scheduled to serve the facility this year, offering grand totals of 987,928 seats and 162,388,650 available seat miles (ASMs). Loganair (5,206) and easyJet (3,184) account for most of these, alongside the likes of:

  • Aer Lingus (872 flights).
  • Blue Islands (52 flights).
  • Smartwings (nine flights).
  • Air Alsie & TUIfly Netherlands (each of which has two flights this year).

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Flights from the Isle of Man mainly serve destinations on the UK mainland or other parts of the British Isles (such as Aer Lingus to the Irish capital of Dublin and Blue Islands to the tropical paradise of Jersey). The former of these categories tends to see more traffic, with data from the airport showing that Liverpool (LPL), London Gatwick (LGW), and Manchester (MAN) all had over 100,000 passengers in 2023.

That being said, foreign charters do occasionally serve the airport, as evidenced by the earlier mention of carriers such as Air Alsie, Smartwings, and TUIfly Netherlands. This July, Air Alsie will operate a single round trip between the island and Sonderborg, Denmark (SGD), while TUIfly Netherlands’ sole round trip will connect the island with Rotterdam. Smartwings’ flights, meanwhile, served Tenerife.

Why a narrow gauge steam railway?

But why is it that Isle of Man Airport’s railway station is situated on, of all things, a narrow-gauge steam railway? Rather than being something new, the fact of the matter is that this is the kind of rail-based infrastructure that has always served the island. Today, a 15.3-mile (24.6 km) line between Douglas and Port Erin serves the south of the island, but the network previously spanned some 46 miles (74 km).

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The airport served over half a million passengers last year.

One of the stops along this line, whose rails are just 91.4 cm (36 inches) apart (rather than the UK standard of 143.5 cm or 56.5 inches), is none other than Ronaldsway Halt. As seen above, this station is situated just 600 meters (just under 2,000 feet) away from the terminal entrance, a walk that only takes seven minutes. It opened in 1967 to compete with taxis and buses for airport passengers.

Unlike certain other stations along the Isle of Man Railway, the airport’s station at Ronaldsway Halt is a request stop, with passengers needing to notify the train’s guard of their intentions to alight before the train arrives at the station. When boarding the train there, they must signal to the driver that they want the train to stop for them. The station was rebuilt in 2001 as part of a wider overhaul.

Back in use after a pandemic-induced operational hiatus

While the idea of catching a narrow gauge train to or from the airport is certainly an interesting one, there was a brief period in recent years when, sadly, this was temporarily not a possibility. As you might have guessed, the reason for this was the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters Association explaining that “the halt was temporarily suspended [in] 2021.”

Isle Of Man Airport Railway Station With Narrow Gauge Steam Train Arriving

Luckily, however, this hiatus only lasted for a single year, with the IOMSRSA adding that it “reopened fully at the start of the next season in 2022.” The group concludes that “it remains a popular request stop [for] passengers from the airport, [with] the novelty of businessmen commuting into the capital by steam train being taken advantage of, possibly the only place in the world this remains possible.”

Did you know that Isle of Man Airport was served by a narrow-gauge steam railway? Perhaps you’ve even traveled there by train yourself? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

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