Furness Railway



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

History
The company was established on 23 May 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament. The line, as originally laid, was intended principally for mineral traffic (slate and iron ore), and extended from Kirkby-in-Furness to Dalton-in-Furness, this was later extended to Rampside. A later line was built from Dalton to Barrow. That portion was opened on 11 August 1846. Passenger traffic began in December 1846.

Extensions
Subsequent extensions took the railway to Ulverston in April 1854; the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway was taken over in 1865 thus extending the Furness Railway to Whitehaven, Carnforth (where the Furness linked with the London and North Western Railway and thence to Lancaster (see below), Coniston and Lakeside). The line was linked to Lancaster on 27 August 1857 by the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway, which was bought out by the Furness Railway in 1862.

The Furness Railway was connected to the Midland Railway by the Furness and Midland Joint Railway in 1867. Also in 1867 the Hincaster Branch from Arnside to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Hincaster was opened.

Barrow Central railway station
The original main line did not run through Barrow, though its headquarters and engineering works were adjacent to St. George's Square. Through trains had to run into the terminal station and then out again to continue their journey. The new Barrow Central railway station was not opened until 1882, when through working became possible.

Locomotive superintendents

 * James Ramsden, 1846-?
 * R. Mason, 1890-1896
 * W. F. Pettigrew, 1896-1918
 * David Rutherford, 1918-1923

Locomotives
The first locomotive superintendent, recruited from Bury, Curtis and Kennedy in 1846, was later to be knighted as Sir James Ramsden, a leading civic figure and first Mayor of Barrow. No locomotives were actually built in the local works itself: they were generally standard designs, purchased from other manufacturers. By 1921, fifteen different works were represented. However, W. F. Pettigrew, who had taken over operations in 1896, was to introduce some measure of standardisation.

There were also carriage and wagon-building shops, and repairs and maintenance was carried out on the equipment of Barrow Docks.

Line details

 * Viaducts: The line crosses several major estuaries - the rivers Kent and Leven being among them - over substantial viaducts.
 * Tunnel: the Bransty Tunnel in Whitehaven is 1333 yd in length
 * Total mileage (lines owned or worked) (1912): 190.25 mi.

Barrow Docks
Details given are those shown for 1912:
 * Total area of water: 278 acre
 * Four docks: Devonshire; Buccleuch; Ramsden; and Cavendish. There was also a Timber Dock.
 * Length of quays 2.25 mi
 * The firm of Messrs Vickers built major ships for the Royal Navy here
 * There was also a deep water berth in Walney Channel

Ships
Barrow-Fleetwood service - four paddle steamers; lake steamers - two on Coniston Water; six on Windermere; three Barrow steam tugs


 * Barrow-Fleetwood.


 * Coniston Water


 * Windermere


 * Other Furness Railway ships

Other statistics

 * As at 31 December 1911 the Railway owned rolling stock as follows:
 * 130 locomotives; 348 coaching vehicles; 7766 goods vehicles; 2 steam rail motor cars
 * Locomotives painted Indian red; passenger vehicles ultramarine blue with white upper panels
 * Passengers carried (year ending 31 December 1911) 3,297,622

The Furness Railway operated as an independent company until December 1922, when it was merged as one of the constituent companies of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway following the Railways Act 1921.