IT is hard to get much beyond Lancaster without changing trains but in the 1960s you could go direct from Furness to some unexpected places.

The long-distance routes featured in the description of services on the tracks between Wennington and Grange by Noel Machell.

He was the guest speaker at a meeting of the Furness Lakes and Lune branch of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society held in the Station Hotel, Carnforth.

Carnforth marked the end of the Furness Railway's line along the North Lancashire coast.

The company name vanished into the London, Midland and Scottish as part of a regional reorganisation in 1923.

However, a few of the Furness Company's old locomotives kept on steaming and starred in some of Mr Machell's pictures - taken from vantage points on bridges and embankments, or from stations and engine sheds.

He said the last of the Furness Railways six-wheeled goods locomotives were not with withdraw from service until 1957.

These were members of a "D5" class designed by W. F. Pettigrew for the Furness Railway and built from 1913 onwards. None survived into preservation.

They carried coal and other heavy cargoes on relatively short trips but some passenger and freight services went much further.

In the 1960s you could still travel direct from Windermere to Lincoln or Chesterfield.

There was a Liverpool to Millom service, via Barrow, in 1964 and in 1968 there was a direct goods train from Northwich to Whitehaven.

Passengers could leave London's Euston station for Barrow on the 11.05am train and in 1966 there was a Barrow to Euston service at 1.46pm.

Mr Machell said: "It was a regular steam working in those days."

Among the big steam locomotives to haul the Barrow to London service were Sir Christopher Wren and Western Star.

Tourists heading to Grange could hire the use of converted camping coaches in the station goods yard.

The Wennington line into Carnforth had been built as a joint venture between the Midland and the Furness Railway.

Its role was to get coal and passengers from Yorkshire into Furness, via Carnforth - rather than paying a rival firm to come through Lancaster.

A temporary terminus at Carnforth was opened by 1867 as the Midland was keen to use Piel and later Barrow as a convenient port to reach Ireland, Fleetwood and the Isle of Man.

Its own port at Morecambe was silting up and could only be used when the tide was in.

This cosy arrangement with the Furness Railway drew to a close when the Midland opened its own port at Heysham in 1905.

He said: "Compensation was paid to the Furness Railway for loss of business."