Furness Railway

Furness Railway

Furness Railway locomotive No. 20
Dates of operation	1846–1922
Successor	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.

In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested in a waggonway from their mines to Barrow; the project was adopted and expanded by the Duke of Buccleuch and the Earl of Burlington. Advertisements in 1843 announced a scheme, supported by their Lordships, for a Furness Railway to link Ulverston 'the capital of the district', iron ore mines (at Dalton-in-Furness) and slate mines (at Kirkby-in-Furness) with the coast at Barrow harbour and at Piel pier . Traffic on the line would be horse-drawn, but the line was to be laid out to allow easy conversion to the use of steam power. A survey had already been carried out by James Walker. "The primary object of this undertaking" explained a subsequent advertisement "is to improve the present very dilatory provision for the transport of the valuable Mineral products of Furness and adjoining Districts to the Coast" but it was noted from the start that much of the line would form part of any coastal route north from Lancaster.

The subscription to the company was largely taken up by the Duke and the Earl, and their associates; although there were some local subscribers - Henry Schneider was on the company's provisional committee - failure to attract local capital meant that the original intention to serve Ulverston was dropped. The company's Bill was not opposed in Parliament and the Act was given Royal Assent on 23 May 1844. A further Act in 1846 authorised extensions from Kirkby to Broughton-in-Furness, and from Dalton to Ulverston. Goods traffic began running between Dalton and Barrow in June 1846, operated by a single locomotive. The line was passed for passenger use early in August 1846; by the end of the month passenger trains were running from Dalton to Piel pier, connecting with a steamer to Fleetwood. At a celebratory excursion and dinner for the directors and friends held at the end of October 1846, it was remarked that the mineral traffic was limited by a shortage of wagons (which prevented the Dalton branch handling more than 2,000 tons of iron ore a day) and of locomotives (which meant that the Kirkby branch was not yet being worked), and that ten thousand of the twelve thousand passengers carried so far were excursionists from Fleetwood or Blackpool. Passenger services ceased after about two months, and the line between Dalton and Rampside Junction was doubled to remove the difficulties experienced in working both mineral and passenger traffic on a single track line. In 1847 differences between the railway company and the owner of Piel pier saw the Fleetwood steamer running to Barrow; it returned to Piel pier in 1848 ; subsequently steamers also ran between Piel pier and Poulton-le-Sands, connecting with the "Little" North Western Railway. Periodic disagreements and reconciliations saw the steamer service terminal switch between Piel and Barrow on a number of occasions until (1853) the Furness Railway bought the pier.