[4]: 98  "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"[5] but it was noted from the start that much of the line would form part of any coastal route north from Lancaster.

[9] 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.

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.

[14] The Dalton branch was extended to Lindal (goods traffic running from mines there from early May 1851[15]) and then on to Ulverston, eight waggons of coal being delivered there from Whitehaven in April 1854, even before the station was complete.

In 1865, the W&FJR was leased by the Furness Railway, with a full amalgamation taking effect on 1 July 1866, being authorised by an act of Parliament[which?]

[22][23] The secretary-manager of the W&FJR became secretary of the Furness Railway,[29] whose general manager was promoted to the board of the company, retaining his salary but now being styled 'resident director'.

[30] 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.

[36] 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.

[37] From its opening, the U&LR was worked by the Furness Railway,[38] which purchased it (with effect from July 1861) in 1862,[21][39] taking over the Ulverston Canal Company in the same year.

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 FR.

[4]: 178 The Furness Railway's prosperity came originally from the export of haematite ore, but the growth of heavy industry at Barrow became a significant contributor.

In 1867, The Engineer explained why the demand for Furness haematite had formerly been limited: "The ironstone mines there had been worked for some considerable time, and the ore was carried by rail and by sea to the coal districts of Lancashire, to the Staffordshire blast furnaces, and to Wales.

Of the ore carried over the Furness line 200,000 tons are sent to Wales, and the remainder to the Staffordshire, Cleveland and West Riding Iron districts.

"[47] 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.

[49] Barrow grew rapidly in the 1860s, as The Engineer noted: "A town of about 20,000 inhabitants, grown up from a village of scarcely one-tenth the population in the short space of seven years is a unicum in European geography"[46])It gave two reasons: "The stimulus to which in the first instance the rapid rise of Barrow-in-Furness has been due, is the erection of blast furnaces on that spot for the production of pig iron from the red hematite ore, belonging to the district near Barrow and Ulverston, and further north of both towns".

[c] 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.

[54] In 1872, the FR obtained powers to build a third dock (the Ramsden);[33] the spoil from the excavation of this was used to enclose an area of water intended for the construction of a fourth (the Cavendish).

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.

[d] 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.

[62] The problem was foreign competition: "..the introduction of Spanish ore into England has led to a serious diminution of the receipts of the Furness Railway company owing to the reduction in price it has affected all over the country in pig iron and steel; and whereas we used to send away nearly half a million tons of ore to Middlesbrough and other places at rates which gave us an average of 3s.

A new general manager (Alfred Aslett) was recruited from the Cambrian Railways,[65] where he had 'worked wonders ... from being one of the most sluggish it has become one of the most enterprising lines in the kingdom'.

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.

[75] 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.