The station was valuable to villagers and workmen and as a place to change trains, but Moor Row's greater railway role was to be the hub of what rapidly became a dense network of primarily industrial lines tapping reserves of stone, coal and, above all, iron ore[11] in what had largely been a thinly populated area with generally modest agricultural potential.

Over the next fifteen years both branches were extended: the northeasterly one beyond Frizington to Marron Junction and the southerly one beyond Egremont to Sellafield.

In traffic terms, even more important than reach was the striking number of quarries, mines and ironworks these lines spawned and tapped.

In July 1879 mineral traffic started on the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway, with a passenger service commencing on 1 October.

[15] An engine shed[16][17][18][19][20] and sidings flanked the station, with the junctions for the branches starting at the eastern end of the platforms.

[21] By a long measure the dominant traffic and revenue earner through Moor Row was minerals, especially iron ore. General goods traffic before the rise of road transport was substantial, the line to Marron Junction, for example, justified two trains per day, despite its remote, rural nature.

Life flickered briefly in Spring 1940 when workmen's trains were reinstated to support a period of high activity building the Royal Ordnance Factory at Drigg, but that lasted less than a month.

[8] A public Sellafield-Egremont-Moor Row-Whitehaven service was reinstated on 6 May 1946, only to be "suspended" on 16 June 1947, a victim of the post-war fuel crisis.