Furness Railway
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The Furness Railway was a British railroad company that existed from 1844 to 1922 . The length of the route network was 254 km in the last year of operation, in 1902 it was 306 km. The Furness Railway operated mainly on the Furness Peninsula in north-west England .
history
The Furness Railway was founded on May 23, 1844, when the British Parliament passed the Furness Railway Act . The route was mainly intended for the transport of shale and iron ore and led from the Piel Pier on Roa Island to the mines and quarries at Dalton-in-Furness and Kirkby-in-Furness . The opening of this section took place on August 11, 1846, passenger traffic began in December of the same year.
In April 1854 the line was extended to Ulverston and then in several steps by taking over other companies to Whitehaven , Carnforth , and Lakeside and with the takeover of the Coniston Railway via Broughton-in-Furness to Coniston . In Carnforth there was a connection to the route network of the London and North Western Railway . The Ulverston and Lancaster Railway connected the Furness Railway with the city of Lancaster from August 27, 1857 and was taken over by this in 1862. In 1867 a branch line was added from Arnside to Hincaster , where connection to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway existed. In the same year, the Furness Railway received access to the route network of the Midland Railway via the 15 km long Furness and Midland Joint Railway . With the construction of the port of Barrow-in-Furness , the railroad contributed to shipping the rapidly growing quantities of iron ore, steel and limestone and slate via this port.
The original route did not lead directly to the town of Barrow-in-Furness , where the headquarters and the workshops were located. The trains first had to turn around in the terminus at Piel Pier before they could continue their journey. The new station in Barrow-in-Furness was not opened until 1882.
With the entry into force of the Railways Act 1921 on January 1, 1923, the Furness Railway was part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway .
The parts of the Furness Railway route network still operated commercially today have merged into the Cumbrian Coast Line and the Furness Line .
