Useful coal deposits were known to exist east of Maryport, as far as Aspatria, but it was difficult to work them profitably, for want of practicable roads.

Early in the eighteenth century new collieries started work and in 1749 Humphrey Senhouse lord of the manor constructed a harbour and founded the town of Maryport at the mouth of the River Ellen.

His son (also Humphrey Senhouse) was involved in the 1790s in the promotion of a canal from Newcastle upon Tyne to Maryport, but the project lapsed in the financial crisis of 1797.

[3] The suggestion was taken up, and in August 1836 George Stephenson visited Maryport, and in October 1836 reported the results of a survey carried out for him, which showed that such a railway was practicable and potentially profitable.

The seven-mile section from Maryport to the pits at Arkleby (1¼ miles short of Aspatria) was opened for mineral traffic on 15 July 1840.:[6]: 145 [7] Soon after eleven o'clock the directors and their friends, including several ladies, took their seats in the train, and off they set to Arkleby and Oughterside; at the latter place they took in charge twenty waggons of coal from the pits of Mr. Harris of Greysouthen ,[a] with which they returned to Maryport, and immediately shipped them on board a vessel.

[8][e] With the line operating from Maryport to Aspatria, attention turned to construction at the Carlisle end (as was required by the act of Parliament).

The section from Carlisle to Wigton was opened on 3 May 1843: In the course of the forenoon three trains of carriages arrived from Carlisle, drawn by the Star, the new patent engine of Messrs. Hawthorne and Co. of Newcastle... the Ballantine and the Nelson engines belonging to the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, and which had been lent for the occasion...[f] Soon after one o'clock, the different trains were filled with passengers, amongst whom were many of the fair sex, who appeared not the least interested of the vast concourse in the proceedings... at twenty-three minutes past one o'clock, the eldritch scream of the steam whistle warned all that everything was in readiness, and off the first train started, amidst the hearty cheers of the assembled thousands.

The eight-mile gap was closed in two stages; sections at each end, from Aspatria to Low Row and from Wigton to Brookfield, were opened on 2 December 1844.

[23] The M&CR gained an unenviable reputation in its early years The Carlisle Journal repeatedly criticised the management of the M&CR and frequently published letters airing the grievances of the travelling public; "almost daily public complaints of want of accommodation, of irregularity, of notorious incivility somewhere, as well as mismanagement everywhere" according to one correspondent.

[24] Reporting on the first train to run from Carlisle to Workington, the Carlisle Journal remarked that those used to travelling on the Maryport line would not be surprised to hear that the train set off a quarter of an hour late; relating further mishaps it talked of "the cause of all the bungling on this line -the want of system"[25] Even shareholders were disenchanted; their half-yearly meeting in August 1846 heard allegations of open drunkenness of on-duty railway employees going unchecked.

And it being the unanimous wish of the Directors that every possible attention shall be paid to the convenience and comfort of every Passenger who may travel on this Line, and also that every facility should be given for the regular transit and due delivery of Goods, Parcels, &c., compatible with the existing state of this Railway Notice is Hereby Given,

That prompt attention will be paid to every complaint respecting the irregularity in the arrival and departure of any of the Trains, as well as to any inattention or want of civility to any Passenger, by any officer or servant of the company, arising from intoxication or any other cause, on application to either of the Undersigned, who have recently been appointed Directors, to superintend the affairs of the Railway at the Eastern Terminus... Carlisle, 21 August 1846[27]The directors set up a sub-committee to look into allegations of mismanagement,[28] but before it could report the financial management of the company was attacked at the half-yearly shareholders' meeting.

The chairman of the sub-committee whilst refusing to go into detail ahead of the submission of their report confirmed that they were satisfied that "it was most essential and important that there should be a thorough change in everything connected with the Company"[26] The Railway Chronicle editorialised that "the conduct of the board ... was a specimen of everything that a business-like management could avoid";[29] the company secretary (who had also been acting as its engineer) was dismissed and a committee of five directors set up to more closely supervise the operation of the railway.

[30] The next shareholders' meeting in February 1847 was told there was no immediate prospect of a dividend being paid (interest payments on the company's borrowings, and the running costs of the railway ate up in almost equal measure the operational receipts); the meeting then voted to explore the possibility of amalgamation with the Newcastle and Carlisle or the Lancaster and Carlisle railways.

[34] As the means by which Hudson had made his money and gained control of so many railways began to be exposed,[35] and to unravel, the Bill authorising lease of the M&CR and the N&CR by an East Coast company was rejected by the Commons as an attempt to monopolise traffic between the North-East and Scotland,[36] and from 1 January 1850 those companies reverted to their own managements' control.

The committee reported multiple failings of previous and current directors of the company,[6]: 148  in some cases involving 'open disregard of the law': borrowing before the specified number of shares had been fully paid; misbooking of interest on working capital to capital rather than revenue; failure to identify and book outstanding liabilities against the revenue account; failure to make any allowance for depreciation; appointing company officers on the basis of nepotism, cronyism and patronage rather than fitness for the post; favouritism in the setting of rates for coal traffic (the wisdom of colliery owners being directors - and of allowing directors to influence specific negotiations - was questioned ); failure to state clearly the roles and responsibilities of company officers;division of Company legal work piecemeal between too many solicitors (with the result that "no one person seems to have had a full and accurate knowledge of ...transactions involving the Crown Street station")[38] The original act of Parliament gave the M&CR no powers to deviate from its connection to the N&CR to a more convenient Carlisle terminus.

[43] [g] At 10 am on 17 March 1849, the Under-sheriff of Cumberland[h] appeared at the station and, after some words with the M&C clerks, the only representatives of the company present, gave possession of it to a solicitor acting for the L&CR.

[45]After Hudson's lease was terminated, the M&CR continued to use London Road as its Carlisle terminus, paying the Newcastle Company £250 a year for the accommodation, until (1 June 1851) Citadel station became the M&CR's Carlisle terminus,[46] with trains backing in from the Canal line as they had done in the days of Crown Street.

[67] In 1864 locomotives were reported to be 'greatly improved' by the fitting of steel axles and wheel tyres:[68] the M&CR is thought to have been the first UK company to do this.

The M&CR undertook two extensions to their network, both essentially defensive: In 1861 the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, wished to expand into the coalfield around Mealsgate and promoted a line from their Abbey station.

The line opened to goods and mineral traffic on 2 April 1866, but the collieries did not develop as rapidly as had been expected, and the Aikbank end of the loop quickly became disused; track was removed in September 1869.

[6]: 161–2 By the 1860s West Cumberland was producing huge quantities of coal, and (south of the area through which the M&CR ran) of good quality haematite iron ore, free of phosphorus and hence of a composition particularly suitable for the Bessemer process of steel making.

[71] The profits of the incumbent railways were correspondingly excellent; the M&CR over which much of the export of haematite to Scotland took place was paying dividends of 13% in 1873.

That found no support from the other companies[73] and did not proceed, but to protect its territory the M&CR had also promoted the Derwent branch of six miles in the same session, and that was authorised on 19 June 1865.

It was to run from a junction at Bullgill to Brigham on the Cockermouth and Workington Railway and usefully shorten the route between the West Cumberland orefield and the Solway Viaduct.

In self-defence the M&CR deposited a Bill for running powers over those lines that had been friendly before the takeover, but the LNWR negotiated terms on 2 April 1866: the M&CR got running powers east from Brigham to Cockermouth and west to the triangular Marron Junction; and four passenger services were to be operated daily by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR, successor to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway) from Maryport to Whitehaven in connection with Carlisle trains there.

A passenger service operated at the southern end, as far as Seaton, but except for a brief (September–November 1908) attempt at a Workington-Linefoot service only excursions and special passenger trains operated throughout,[6]: 185 In the 1880s the iron industry continued to expand considerably, and if the focus of the processing of iron was at Workington, the principal port for export was Maryport.

A special directors' train ran on 15 July 1840 but Quick says that the safest date for public opening to passengers is Autumn 1840.

There is a booking-office which issues tickets when required, though certainly the "booking-clerk" is not overtaxed, nor has he ever any of the rush familiar to his confrères at Liverpool Street or Waterloo.

Crofton Hall lies about three miles from the latter town, and its owner is Sir Musgrave Brisco Bart., who enjoys the rights and privileges pertaining to the ownership of a private railway station on his estate.