Furness Railway

Our post swim walk today took us up the track of the old Furness Railway on the bit from Greenodd to Haverthwaite. Don't tell the local farmer because I suspect we were trespassing. We went through several gates that said no public access but there is a lovely straight path and we imagined all those old steam trains puffing along. 

History:- The Furness Railway built a line from Plumpton Junction (near Ulverston) along the River Leven estuary to Greenodd and then up the valley via Haverthwaite and Newby Bridge to the Windermere steamers at Lakeside. The line opened  in 1869. The main revenue earner was coal for the Windermere steamers, iron ore for the Backbarrow Iron Works, and sulphur and saltpetre for the Black Beck and Low Wood gunpowder works. The traffic in the opposite direction was mainly pig iron, gunpowder, pit props, ultramarine ‘blue’ powder, wooden bobbins (from the Finsthwaite area) and livestock.

Eventually taking passengers as well, the line closed in 1967 but negotiations were already afoot to buy the whole line as a heritage railway. Unfortunately the widening of the A590 to Greenodd mowed through the old track  and only the bit north of the A590 was usable, ie the very short bit from Haverthwaite to Lakeside.  That stretch reopened in 1973 as a tourist attraction and enthusiast hobby railway.