SOME outstanding prices have been paid at auction for reminders of the golden age of rail travel in Furness.

The latest sale of rail-related collectables by G. W. Railwayana, of Pershore in Worcestershire, included several items produced for the network of lines and stations operated by the Furness Railway.

From 1846 to 1923 the Barrow-based freight and passenger transport operator produced a wealth of items bearing its name, initials or coat of arms.

They ranged from hotel cutlery and notepaper to station signs and seats.

The sale saw £640 paid for a pair of cast iron Furness Railway platform seat ends, with am connecting bar and replacement wooden slats.

A nickel-brass pocket watch engraved "Furness Railway 131" with the enamelled dial having the name of the Barrow retailer W. Hird sold for a remarkable £820.

It is thought to date to around 1860.

A Furness Railway whistle stamped "F. R. Pway 281" was also among the lots on offer.

The Acme Thunderer model was made in Birmingham and would have been used by a permanent way track gang to attract attention or warn of danger.

It sold for £280.

A similar example for a guard on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway made £460.

The Furness Railway became part of the much larger London, Midland and Scottish Railway after 1923 and a whole new range of rail company items were produced.

Among them were enamel station name signs, familiar across the country from the 1950s.

One of these "totem" style signs for Sellafield in West Cumbria sold in the G. W. Railwayana sale for £340.

An LMS gold free pass issued to company director Mr V. M. Barrington sold for £480.

He was a company director from 1919 to 1922 and a member of the Railway Executive from 1947 to 1952.

A decorative poster produced by the London and North Western Railway to encourage people to visit the Lake District sold for £90.

It has a view of Windermere from Orrest Head.

Locomotive name plates are among the most sought after items of railway history.

This sale saw £11,000 paid for a brass name plate of St Vincent which used to be fixed to a London Midland and Scottish Jubilee-class steam locomotive, number 45686, which was built at Crewe in 1936.

It was based at Carnforth from 1959 and withdrawn from service in November 1962.

St Vincent was broken up for scrap at Crewe in August 1963.

Also sold for £1,300 was the name plate Spirit of Cumbria which used to be attached to a Virgin West Coast locomotive until it left the county to work for Chiltern Railways.

The locomotive was built at Derby in 1988 as number 82135 and was officicially named at Carlisle station in October 1996 to mark the Year of Visual Arts.

If you want to see the range of railway collectables available, check out the Carnforth Railwayana event being held on the platform at Carnforth Station Heritage Centre on Sunday, July 30.

The event is open from 9am to 2pm and will have everything from rail company buttons and badges to vintage card tickets, timetables and lamps.

Carnforth Station heritage Centre also has a display of railway-related items, exhibitions and information about its links to the filming of the movie Brief Encounter.

There is also a museum of railway relics at Main Street, St Bees, called the West Cumberland Railway Museum.

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway has recently re-opened its expanded museum at the back of the car park on the Ravenglass end of the line.