Colby, Isle of Man Colby, Isle of Man Colby () is a small village in the south of the Isle of Man in the parish of Arbory. It lies on the A7 road between the towns of Castletown and Port Erin and close to the similarly sized village of Ballabeg. The name Colby is of Scandinavian origin and is derived from Kolli's Farm which was home to the lexicographer, Archibald Cregeen (1774–1841). The word Colby is thought to derive from the Viking words Col (meaning Hill) and Byr (meaning farm). The village has a railway station on the Isle of Man Steam Railway and
Communications in the Isle of Man on as their manager on the island. By 1901 there were 600 subscribers, and the telephone system had been extended to Ramsey, Castletown, Peel, Port Erin, Port St. Mary and Onchan. On 1 January 1912 the National Telephone Company was nationalised and merged into the General Post Office by the Telephone Transfer Act 1911. Only Guernsey, Portsmouth and Hull remained outside of the GPO. In 1922, the General Post Office offered to sell the island's telephone service to the Manx government, but the offer was not taken up. A similar arrangement in Jersey for that island's telephone service was concluded