Passenger and freight services were provided, and its success came from transporting goods from the dock at Glasson and from St Georges Quay in Lancaster.

There was a goods shed after Lancaster, which was where a separate, shorter line (St George's Quay branch) joined the railway.

Passenger services left Lancaster Castle Station on the westside down-bay platform, but they ceased in July 1930.

[citation needed] The route is easily traceable, leaving the West Coast Main Line just before the Carlisle Bridge.

It is now a much-used cycleway, starting at the Lune Millennium Bridge in Lancaster, that forms part of the larger Bay Cycle Way.