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The Sodor and Mainland Railway was the original standard gauge railway on the Island of Sodor, inaugurated in 1853 after roughly three years of lengthy negotiation. Complications with the Admiralty in London meant it was not until 1861 that a single-track line was built from Ballahoo via Crovan's Gate (where a repair shed was established that survives to this day) to Rolf's Castle. Workers from Scotland and Ireland were employed in the construction, and three contractors' locomotives were brought in.

In conjunction with the Crovan's Gate Mining Company, the S&M extended the southern end of the line to the port at Kirk Ronan, the work being completed at the time the adjoining Skarloey Railway opened in 1865. Skarloey recalled his arrival by ship, where he had to be lifted off with the ship's derricks since a crane had not been erected at that point, and one of the contractors' engines, Neil, brought him to Crovan's Gate. Neil was apparently later sold to the Crovan's Gate Mining Company, being used to run slate from the Skarloey Railway's wharf to Kirk Ronan.

Attempts by the S&M to reach the mainland were curtailed by a series of engineering misfortunes. Attempts to cut a tunnel through Ballahoo Ridge failed when some excavations collapsed. A scheme to build a bridge across the Walney Channel was buffeted by miscalculations and stopped by the Admiralty (They became a driving force behind the unification of NWR and the completion of a link to the mainland years later, ironically). Powers were gained but not met to build a line to Peel Godred, which led to the formation of the Mid Sodor Railway in 1872 as an alternative.

In 1901 the Sodor and Mainland Railway's finances collapsed, after their last intact locomotive broke down. After a period of dormancy, finally the company joined with the Tidmouth, Wellsworth & Suddery Railway to officially become the North Western Railway. Eventually a standard gauge line to Peel Godred was built in 1923, run almost exclusively by electric engines as a branch line of the NWR. The old Sodor & Mainland link between Kellsthorpe Road to Ballahoo became part of the NWR's official main line from Tidmouth to Barrow, while the section from Kellsthorpe Road to Kirk Ronan became a branch line.

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Around 1891, the Crovan's Gate Mining Company collaborated with Guinness Brewery-employed chief engineer Samuel Geoghehan - a factual figure - to produce a special "haulage wagon". This was erected on-site, together with a hydraulic hoist, adjacent to the Skarloey Railway's wharf. Skarloey or Rheneas could be lifted into the haulage wagon, and their lead wheels would engage with a roller geared to the wagon wheels. At slow speed, they would haul standard-gauge wagons of slate down to Kirk Ronan, though Skarloey usually did this as Rheneas's wheelbase was determined to have some overhang.

Despite this, the Mining Company decided following the S&M's bankruptcy that with Neil showing his age, another engine would be required to provide relief. So in 1902, they purchased second-hand (for £670) a London Brighton & South Coast Railway A1 'Terrier' Class tank engine, which was accordingly shipped off to Kirk Ronan. The engine was No. 60 Ewell - who it turned out was a nifty female, and Neil (who by now had gained a makeshift cab and had lost his S&M markings) made her feel at home in her new routine.

The two engines worked between them, supplemented by Skarloey in his haulage wagon if required, through to 1919. Neil was sold off to work on the Edge Hill Light Railway, while Ewell came into the ownership of the North Western Railway and became Crovan's Gate Works shunter, still operating in the role as late as 1962. The following year she was transferred to a pedestal adjacent to Crovan's Gate station, where she stands in LBSC colours to this day. The 'Terrier' class remained closely associated with the Kirk Ronan branch line due to its light construction until the track was upgraded in 1964-65.

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