Furness and Midland Joint Railway

The 9½ mile line opened in April 1867 for freight, with passengers services beginning on 6 June of that year. These initially ran to a temporary depot near Furness & Midland Junction where the two lines met, as the connecting curve to the main Carnforth Joint station was not completed until 1880. The two companies agreed from the outset, that the Midland would work all traffic over the line and operate the stations; whilst the Furness would maintain the track and structures from its Engineer's Office in Barrow. But as the Midland had their own "in-house" Signalling Department, the Midland installed and maintained the signalling on the line. Soon after opening, the Midland transferred its existing Irish & Isle of Man steamer services from Morecambe (where the harbour was prone to silting and difficult to reach at low tide) to the newly extended dock facilities at Piel Pier, near Barrow and began running connecting trains over the Joint line to serve it. The line also carried significant quantities of freight - mainly minerals from the Barrow area headed for West & South Yorkshire and worked by the F.R as far as the exchange yards at Carnforth, where Midland locos would take over. The Midland also built its own locomotive depot near Carnforth East Junction (some distance east of the station) to service the locos that worked the route - this still stands today, although it is no longer in railway use.

The boat trains were transferred to a new station adjacent to the deep water Ramsden Dock at Barrow-in-Furness in 1881 but would end altogether in 1904 when the Midland opened its new rail-served port at Heysham and moved its ferry routes there also. The line though remained a busy freight and passenger route right up until the 1923 Grouping (when the London Midland and Scottish Railway took over) and beyond.