Formation 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. 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; 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 10,000 of the 12,000 passengers carried so far were excursionists from Fleetwood or Blackpool. 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.
Extensions The Kirkby branch was extended to Broughton, passing inspection for passenger traffic at the end of February 1848; when a Broughton to Barrow train was derailed by mis-set points in July 1849, it was noted that "nearly all the gates and points on the Furness line are attended by women" and that a woman had the management of the points which had been mis-set. The Dalton branch was extended to Lindal (goods traffic running from mines there from early May 1851) and then on to
Ulverston, eight waggons of coal being delivered there from Whitehaven in April 1854, even before the station was complete. Passenger services on that section began in June 1854. In 1854, 330,000 tons of iron ore travelled over the railway (as against 225,000 tons the previous year), other goods traffic was up from 22,000 tons in 1853 to 40,000 tons, and there were 145,000 passenger movements (95,000 in 1853); the company declared a dividend at a rate of 6% a year. Copper mining interests at
Coniston promoted the
Coniston Railway, running from the Furness Railway at Broughton to
Coniston and on to the copper mines. The line was nominally independent of the , but the Duke of Devonshire (as the Earl of Burlington had become in 1858) was its chairman; the took shares in it, and worked it. It opened for passenger traffic 19 July 1859, although its opening for goods and mineral traffic was deferred for some months as the provision was still incomplete. The Furness Railway obtained an act of Parliament, the
Furness and Coniston Railways Amalgamation Act 1862 (
25 & 26 Vict. c. cxxxiii) giving powers to amalgamate the Coniston Railway with it in 1862. The line opened June 1869; a company part-owned (after 1873 fully owned) by the ran Windermere steamer services in conjunction with the trains; a
Bowness resident promptly writing to
The Times to query the absence of lifeboats on the steamers.
Connections and acquisitions Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway The
Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway (W&FJR) was completed in November 1851, connecting the Furness Railway to Whitehaven and (on completion of the Bransty
tunnel at Whitehaven in 1852) to the
West Coast Main Line at Carlisle. In 1865, the was leased by the Furness Railway, with a full amalgamation taking effect on 1 July 1866, being authorised by the '''''' (
29 & 30 Vict. c. ccxxxvi). whose general manager was promoted to the board of the company, retaining his salary but now being styled 'resident director'. The Furness Railway now extended to Whitehaven, with running powers to Workington, and to the iron works on the North side of the Derwent there. The also inherited the W&FJR's involvement in the
Cleator and Furness Railway, a joint line with the
Whitehaven Cleator and Egremont Railway (WC&ER), authorised by the
Cleator and Furness Railway Act 1866 (
29 & 30 Vict. c. cxxxii), linking the at Egremont with the W&FJR at Sellafield to simplify the movement of ore southwards; this line opened on 1 August 1869. In 1865, before the lease and amalgamation, the W&FJR and the had put forward rival bills for crossing the
Duddon estuary much lower down it than the existing crossing at Foxfield, thus usefully shortening the rail distance between Whitehaven (and points north) and Barrow (and Carnforth). The parliamentary committee had decided in favour of the W&FJR, and the scheme was inherited by the . However, in 1868 the decided to abandon the project: there was a trade recession (the 's dividend being consequently reduced to 8% from its accustomed 10%) and the had recently made major capital outlays on the Furness and Midland line (£100,000) and the construction of wet docks at Barrow (£200,000): but the had henceforth to charge on the basis of the mileages if the crossing had been built. allowing a lucrative goods traffic: In 1858, after completion of the U&LR, modifications were made to the junctions at Foxfield (with the W&FJR) and at Millwood (where the Broughton and Ulverston branches met) to allow through running of Whitehaven-Carnforth traffic without reversing. From its opening, the U&LR was worked by the Furness Railway, which purchased it (with effect from July 1861) in 1862, taking over the Ulverston Canal Company in the same year.
Furness and Midland Joint Railway In 1863, in conjunction with the
Midland Railway, the promoted a bill for the
Furness and Midland Joint Railway (F&MJR) between Wennington and Carnforth; the intention was said to be to give a more direct connection between the iron ore of Furness and Yorkshire ironworks and coal-mines. The
London and North Western Railway cast doubt on this, pointing out that Furness got its metallurgical coke from South Durham over the
Stainmore line and exported most of its ore to districts better served by the LNWR, but withdrew its objection on being offered the same powers as the Midland over the . The F&MJR opened for passenger traffic 6 June 1867; it was worked by the Midland. The secured an act of Parliament, the '''''' (
30 & 31 Vict. c. civ), for the construction of the
Hincaster Branch from to the
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at
Hincaster. This single-track line was intended to shorten the distance to Barrow for the coke traffic over Stainmore. In 1870, the brought forward, and then abandoned, a bill authorising abandonment of the project; construction was pursued with no great urgency, the line not opening until June 1876.
Lines in the West Cumberland ore-field The objected when in 1877 the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway (WC&ER) agreed terms for its amalgamation with the
London and North Western Railway (LNWR); instead as of July 1879 the WC&ER became a joint line of the Furness and the LNWR. A very small village at Barrow grew into one of about 2,000 serving the ore-export facility there, with the Furness Railway effectively responsible for the settlement. The took over Barrow Harbour from its commissioners in 1863 to allow the construction of wet docks at Barrow; it obtained powers in the
Furness Gas and Waterworks Act 1864 (
27 & 28 Vict. c. clxix) to supply Barrow and the surrounding district with gas and water. Barrow grew rapidly in the 1860s, as
The Engineer noted: It gave two reasons: The first blast furnaces had been brought into operation at Barrow in 1859. Proximity to mines, and to Barrow harbour, and "the advantage of obtaining coke and coal as return freights from the places to which hematite ore was carried" had allowed "extraordinary economy and consequent commercial success.”: and over 90,000 tons of pig iron produced in local blast furnaces. The docks at Barrow opened in September 1867. There were two wet docks; the Devonshire (30 acres) and the Buccleuch (33 acres). The Midland Railway's Morecambe-Belfast steamer service was replaced by a Barrow-Belfast service jointly owned by the Midland and the ; transferring to Barrow docks in 1881. In 1872, the FR obtained powers to build a third dock (the Ramsden); the spoil from the excavation of this was used to enclose an area of water intended for the construction of a fourth (the Cavendish). 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. In 1882, through working became possible when a new station called
Barrow Central was opened on a new loop line; the Whitehaven-Carnforth passenger traffic now started to running over this section. The old
station at the dockside was retained as the goods station.
Issues with development outside Barrow Heavy expenditure on the docks at Barrow coincided with a down-turn in the iron trade in the mid-1870s; capital expenditure on other projects was minimised, and the dividend was cut from 10% to 6.5%. This triggered complaints from shareholders that the directors were pursuing the development of Barrow at the expense of the profitability of the FR, and from passengers at the service provided – with the possible exception of fast trains serving Barrow (which did not stop at most stations) passenger trains were infrequent, inconvenient, unpunctual, uncomfortable, and slow. The company chairman (the Duke of Devonshire) subsequently conceded that several of the stations "... until lately, were in a condition of which the public had a right to complain ... On the Whitehaven section especially some of the stations were of the most inferior description, and such as the Board of Trade would not have allowed them to continue; they were mere temporary structure, scarcely more than wooden hovels."
Hard times In 1881, revenue for the second half of the year was about £300,000 and the dividend 7% a year; second-half revenue declined to £216,000 in 1885 (with the dividend being cut to 2%), but recovered to £275,000 in 1889, allowing a dividend of 5% a year. In 1892, there was no dividend for the first year-half (because of a prolonged strike in the Durham coalfield) this triggered a renewal of previous complaints from shareholders that the company had sunk between two and three million pounds into docks at Barrow, but refused to give any indication of the profitability (or otherwise) of the docks. The additional complaint was now made that most of the directors were ornamental and deferred to
Sir James Ramsden who had held managerial posts with the company since 1846, and had been the managing director since 1866. For the second half of 1892, despite the disruption to traffic and loss of an engine caused by
subsidence at Lindal, a dividend at the rate of 3% a year was declared; amendments seeking to force the resignation of Sir James were moved, but defeated. The secretary of the denied that its low dividends were caused by injudicious expenditure on Barrow docks; without them there would be no dividend at all: The problem was foreign competition: In 1894, it was reported that only 33 of the 75 blast furnaces in Furness and West Cumberland were working.
Management changes In May 1895, Sir James Ramsden, by now 73, resigned due to ill health. He was not replaced as managing director. A new general manager (Alfred Aslett) was recruited from the
Cambrian Railways, where he had 'worked wonders ... from being one of the most sluggish it has become one of the most enterprising lines in the kingdom'. The incumbent 'secretary and general manager' became 'secretary' only (his assistant, Ramsden's son, became 'superintendent of the line') before retiring in 1897 after thirty-three years in the post; the locomotive superintendent retired at the same time after forty-six years with the company. The new regime benefited from a recovery in the Furness iron and steel trade, and from a wholesale replacement of passenger rolling stock occasioned by the need to provide a continuous automatic brake, but also made strenuous efforts to develop passenger traffic, with day and weekend excursion tickets being introduced and advertised. Second class was abolished (1897) and new corridor bogie carriages introduced on Barrow-Yorkshire services were as good as anything to be found on major railways. To promote tourist traffic, the FR published guides to tours in the
Lake District not only in English, but also in French and German. By 1903, passenger revenue was 40% higher than that for 1895, and passenger revenue per train-mile was 10d higher. The
Railway Magazine of August 1898 described the Furness Railway as one "which, though a comparatively small line, is noted for its enterprise and go-ahead management."; by the second half of 1899 the dividend had recovered to 4% per annum, "entirely due to the ability an exertions of their excellent general manager" according to the company chairman. The dividend, however, fell back to 0.5% in 1904 because of a renewed depression in iron and steel; Mr Aslett having previously reported that pig iron could only be produced in Furness at a loss of 3s 6d per ton: England was the 'dumping ground' for German iron being sold at below its production cost.
Vickers had taken over the Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897, and its construction of naval warships at Barrow (both as part of the
Anglo-German naval arms race and for foreign navies) became an important prop of the prosperity of Barrow. Even with this prop, and the development of tourist traffic, the dividend for the last twenty-five years of its existence (up to Grouping in 1923) averaged only marginally above 2% a year.
Relationship with the Midland Railway The FR had been closely associated with the Midland Railway for many years; it was strategically important to the Midland as giving it access to an Irish Sea port and hence to Irish traffic. The Midland had repeatedly attempted to purchase the company, but these offers had come during periods of prosperity for the Furness, whose directors had rebuffed the Midland's terms as insufficiently generous. The Midland's announcement of a planned extension of its Morecambe line to a new deep-water port at
Heysham gave rise to concern about the future of steamer services from Barrow and the reliability of the Midland as a partner. Negotiations with the Midland led to a further offer to purchase the FR (with a guaranteed 3% dividend to FR shareholders) which was again rejected, and ended in an agreement that the joint Furness/Midland trains from Barrow would continue to run, and the same company which managed (and owned a third of the shares in) the Barrow trains for the railways would also manage the services from Heysham. When services began running from Heysham in 1905, the Barrow services became unprofitable: it became evident that the Midland was preferentially routing traffic via Heysham and the Furness went to law, the matter being resolved by the Midland buying out the FR's interest for £45,000, entering a traffic-sharing agreement for Belfast traffic and undertaking to continue the services from Barrow for seven years. ==Locomotive superintendents==