These included the ending of evening and Sunday services, the deferral of track maintenance, and cuts to train mileage as locomotives became unserviceable.

Following the closure of the County Donegal Railways in 1960, the IMR purchased the CDR's two most modern diesel railcars, which were then largely used on the Peel line in summer, and after 1962 worked the whole of the winter service except when withdrawn for maintenance.

In 1975, the Port Erin line operated only from its southwestern terminus to Castletown, but it was found that half a railway made twice the loss.

Following nationalisation the railway has continued to be operated seasonally, for many years from Easter weekend until the end of September, more recently from around 1 March to early November.

The line was on the outskirts of Peel near Glenfaba Mill, and climbed steeply in a southerly direction for about 0.7 miles until it reached the village of Patrick.

After Ballasalla the line runs over relatively flat land past the request halt at Ronaldsway to the ancient capital of Castletown.

After Castletown the railway crosses the Silver Burn and heads northwest across country to the diminutive request stop at Ballabeg Station.

Many people start or end their journey in Port Erin, a Victorian seaside resort, or in Castletown, the ancient capital.

There are several farm crossings and rural request stops, which largely serve adjoining fields and local communities, especially on the southernmost section which passes through agricultural land.

During his time in office much progress was made, not all liked by the preservationists and supporters: negative developments overshadowing his tenure included the loss of the large railway yard at Douglas and the unpopular rebuild of No.

His time in office, finishing in 2006, will be remembered for the thrust on health and safety issues, such as high-visibility clothing and warning signs, as part of a Government-wide drive.

Ian Longworth was appointed Director of Public Transport in 2009 and since then the railway been the responsibility of the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure.

A number of smaller shunting locomotives and people carriers for departmental use also exist including two Motor-Rail units (No.24 Betsy and No.25 Sprout) based at Port Erin and Douglas stations respectively, and two Wickham people carriers (No.22 and No.23) used on departmental work and fire train duties as well as spells in use on the Manx Electric Railway when required.

In 2024 two modern, small diesel locomotives were acquired secondhand from Bord na Móna in Ireland, whose industrial rail system is being closed down due to the end of peat harvesting.

Further restored stock include 'pairs' carriages F.62 and F.63 in 2021 and 2022 respectively, timber framed F.11 in 2022 and work also ongoing on sister F.10 which is receiving similar treatment.

Services evolved around two main considerations: the need to connect with ferries to and from the UK and Ireland, and to transport day trippers out of the major termini.

When the Isle of Man and Manx Northern Railways opened between 1873 and 1879, the basic service on all three main routes consisted of four or five trains a day.

This intensive service ran on an entirely single-track system controlled by staff and ticket safeworking, with limited semaphore signalling.

However, as the number of servicemen on the island increased, additional late trains were run on Fridays and Saturdays: the last arrivals in Port Erin, Peel, and Ramsey were often around midnight.

Traffic levels remained very high in the late 1940s due to petrol rationing, but the 1948 Howden Report foresaw the eventual closure of both the Ramsey and Peel lines, with goods services transferred to road transport.

The brief post-war resurgence of the Manx tourist industry kept the trains well filled into the mid-1950s, and postponed the day when significant economies and modernisation would be required.

Although the railway was still intensively used in summer, winter train services had been reduced to morning and afternoon round trips to Port Erin and Peel, and a solitary working to Ramsey.

Since the closure of the Peel and Ramsey lines, the basic service has generally been four trains a day between Douglas and Port Erin and return, at roughly two-hour intervals between 10:00 and 16:00.

Apart from the Ramsey Cattle Mart specials and the transport of materials for projects such as the completion of an airfield in the north of the island, freight trains rarely operated.

Some of the underframes from this project eventually found their way to the Ffestiniog Railway, where they were placed on two foot gauge bogies and used as the basis for some of the "Barn" carriages running on the FR.

The railway operated a modest local train service throughout the year, which was considerably augmented during the summer months to accommodate tourist traffic.

Lord Ailsa took his five-year option on a 21-year lease and relinquished duties to operate trains from the close of the 1972 season and the Railway Company again took over services with subsidy from the Isle of Man Tourist Board.

1977 proved to be the final year of Railway Company operation of the line, again on a familiar seasonal basis with four trains each way per day between May and September.

Certain years also saw skeleton services operating in October and November in conjunction with various off-season attractions on the island, although the pattern of passing trains at Ballasalla was adhered to.

The BBC adaptation of The Ginger Tree in which it doubled for communist Russia using the carriage shed at Douglas, lineside scenes and (No.11 Maitland was painted matte black for this production and remained in this guise for the remainder of the 1989 season) as well as being the subject of a 1988 BBC documentary as part of the Train Now Departing... series in an episode called "Steam in the Isle of Man".