Railways in the Lake District

Almost all the railways in the Lake District were built for freight. Their scenic attraction to passengers was secondary. The Coniston branch was built for copper. The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith was part of a series of lines carrying minerals the breadth of the country. Even the Ravenglass & Eskdale owed its existence to the mines.

The Furness railway built the docks at Barrow and founded the ship building industry there. The railway ran steamers on the lakes, across Morecambe Bay and to Belfast and the Isle Of Man.

This is a new, revised and updated edition of a title which first appeared in 1995.