It was originally planned in 1846 to form part of a main line route from London to Scotland, but fell victim to rivalry between railway companies.

Completion was delayed until 1861, and it was only ever a rural branch line, serving the village of Ingleton and towns of Kirkby Lonsdale and Sedbergh.

In 1849, the route between Skipton and Ingleton opened, but further work northward was abandoned due to financial difficulties, the company deciding to concentrate instead on the cheaper branch to Lancaster.

The original time limit, set by Parliament in 1846, for the construction of the line was about to expire, so a further five-year extension was obtained by the NWR in 1852.

The proposed route was from Ingleton to Kirkby Lonsdale, then straight up the Lune valley to join the L&CR line just south of Tebay.

It was awarded to Coulthard and Allen, who had built the Clapham to Ingleton NWR line some 10 years earlier.

[5] Contract 2 covered 7 miles 27 chains (11.8 km) over flatter ground with no major works, and was awarded to James Taylor.

[9] In the early days of the line, through passengers had to walk nearly a mile (1½ km) between the two Ingleton stations, descending into the valley below and climbing up the other side, where they often had a long wait as the companies did not cooperate over timetabling either.

Each station controlled its signals and there was an intermediate block post at Newby Moor until 1937, installed after a crash on 22 July 1891 between a goods and a mixed train.

[19] A section of the trackbed south of Kirkby Lonsdale was used by the re-aligned A65 road between Cowan Bridge and Ingleton.

Both stations at Ingleton have been demolished – the former LNWR depot is now a commercial unit while the ex-MR site is a car park and community/tourist information centre.