Station Name: Santon
Manx Name: Skylley Stondane
Opened: 1st August 1874
Closed: 26th May 1958
Distance From Douglas: 5 Miles, 50 Chains
Preceding Station: Port Soderick
Following Station: Ballasalla
 

The station at Santon still boasts its original 1874 building, the last of its kind on the railway. Similar buildings were demolished at Ballasalla (in 1985) and Colby (in 1980) and the extant version here was cosmetically restored in 1985 by the now defunct Isle Of Man Railway Society.  The site remained in virtually original condition until 2002, see below for more recent developments.

 
 
A story from the busiest days of the railway tells that this sleepy station was the hub of the company's lost parcels office; if parcels at any station on the railway's lines were left behind or remained unclaimed, they were posted onwards to the porters' office here for claiming.  The story persists that after a few years of this being commonplace the office was completely filled with such parcels, many of which were never claimed and became property of the company!  What ever became of this mass of unclaimed property remains a mystery!
 
Although never a busy passenger station owing to its remote rural location, having relatively easy road access the former goods/manure siding has for a number of years been delivery point of the railway's supply of ballast.  In the company's days the goods side of traffic warranted its retention as a manned station until well into its later years. 
 

Usually one of the most tranquil spots on the line, the station played host to Father Christmas for several years when the popular Santa Trains terminated there but in more recent years.  This practice has discontinued when the line was closed as part of an all-island sewage scheme but happily in 2008 services returned to the station. In 2002 it acted as the railway's terminus while major track laying was in progress, and in readiness for this (and in line with policy) the station received half-height surfaces platforms on both up and down sides of the loop, and the interior of the building was much enhanced.
 
The passing loop is unique now, being of "Y" formation whereas all remaining station pointwork either has left or right hand turnouts; the result is that when viewed from the overdridge on the sourthery side of the station, the layout has a very symetrical appearance.  Having relatively easy road access the former goods siding has for a number of years been delivery point of the railway's supply of ballast.  The station's sheltered location boasts some magnificent palm trees and these give a tropical air to the surroundings but by and large, with the exception of the new platforms, the station remains untouched for over a century.
 
The station remained open and was a manned post, popular for local farm traffic.  It lost its manned status and officially "closed" in 1958 though it did re-open in 1967 under the Ailsa Regime and ultimately closed in 1975, when short-line workings were enforced.  Since this time it has been a request stop only but does appear annually in the railway's timetable literature.
 
The station remains "open" although now only as an unmanned halt and provides the terminus for the railway's annual Santa Trains each year.  When the line was being rebuilt this represented the terminus for the 2002 season at which time the building was enhanced and the porters' room equipped with drinks vending machines, etc.  This is possibly the most activity the station has seen in over a century of existence, and today it has returned to its usual role of picturesque wayside halt, remaining popular with photographers.