Kirk Ronan Branch Line

The Kirk Ronan Branch Line is a little known branch line of the North Western Railway. It only appeared in Very Old Engines and Season 5. The engines were never revealed, nor any proper stories about them, so information is skanty.

Operations and Stations
Starting at Kellsthorpe Road the branch calls at Rolf's Castle and then terminates at Kirk Ronan. The line serves the harbour here, and ore and slate from Crovan's Gate are sent here. Kirk Ronan is known as a Fishing Port, so fish are unloaded here. A steamer service to Dublin is operated on Tuesdays and Fridays from Kirk Ronan, so tourists may use the railway as transportation to the port.



Engines
Nothing is known about the actual engines who run the line, but it may be assumed that Donald and Douglas may assist occasionally. However, in "The Extended Railway Series" the line has a book to itself. It involves the dockside engines who work at Kirk Ronan and the trouble between a group of vindictive lorries and a mysterious theiving diesel.

In The Railway Series and the TV Series
The actual branch line featured in a flashback of Skarloey's in "Very Old Engines" when he is unloaded awkwardly from a ship. Neil worked there at the time, as Kirk Ronan was the terminus of the old Sodor and Mainland Railway.

In the TV Series Season 5, the station of Kirk Ronan is featured in a number of episodes, most prominently in A Better View for Gordon when Gordon crashes into the station wall! This is the only season where it is featured.