HOW the county's railways linked communities, brought industrial growth and prompted the development of new towns is told in a new book.

It is called An Introduction to Cumbrian Railways and has been written by railway historian David Joy for the Cumbrian Railways Association.

The 96-page book is lavishly illustrated and describes the development of railway companies and the people and industries served from the earliest days in the 1830s to the present day.

The county’s early rail links always had moving goods as a priority– rather than people - and the need to link east with west across the top of the county saw the first major building project.

It notes: “The first public railway in Cumbria was also the first railway across England.

“Its origins lay in proposals from the 1790s onwards to construct a canal from Newcastle to Maryport via Carlisle.

“It was argued that it would increase trade from Tyneside to Ireland and from West Cumberland to the Baltic and Holland.”

The 60-miles link from Newcastle to Carlisle won approval from Partliament in 1829 and the full route was opened on June 18 in 1838.

It cost three times the original estimate – around £69m at modern values.

Many of the county’s lines were a case of joining up the gaps – such as linking Carlisle to Maryport by February 1845 to give access to West Cumberland coal pits.

Several of the Victorian giants of engineering and railway finance got involved in planning or building lines in the county – such as George Stephenson, George Hudson and Joseph Locke.

One of the major developments was the line through the Lake District from Lancaster to Carlisle – the modern West Coast Main Line.

The company to build it was incorporated in June 1844 with authority to raise up to £116m at modern values.

Up to 10,000 navvies laboured on the project and the 69-mile link was completed in just 30 months by December 17 in 1846.

He said: “It was an amazing achievement.”

Carlisle ’s Citadel Station quickly became a hub for railways offering services into or through the county.

Among them was the Settle & Carlisle line for the Midland Railway, built to meet West Yorkshire’s need for a direct link to Scotland.

The route was just one of the many challenges it faced. It passed Ais Gill at 1,169ft – England’s highest mainline summit.

The first train pulled into Carlisle on May 1 in 1876 but there was no ceremony and the cost was put at £322m in modern values.

He said: “Conceived out of frustration and completed in desperation, it is unlikely ever to have repaid its capital cost.”

The Barrow-based Furness Railway started as a group of short lines designed to link Dalton iron ore and Kirkby slate with coastal jetties in Barrow Channel to take it away by ship.

He said: "Any idea that it might one day be seen as the most important line in Cumbria and instrumental in creating its fastest-growing town would have seemed inconceivable."

With the support of the Duke of Buccleuch and William Cavendish, of Holker Hall, the company was incorporated on May 23 in 1844.

It started carrying mineral traffic on June 3 in 1846 and passengers from August with James Ramsden at the held, aged 24, as locomotive superintendent.

Mr Joy said: "He was to steer the Furness through to a position of greatness."

Links to the wider world came to the south through the Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway and to the north by the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway.

He writes: "The company now went far beyond the activities normally associated with such a concern and in effect became the government of Barrow.

"It built houses facing onto streets laid out in a gridiron pattern, a church, schools and town and market halls.

"Its driving aim was to create an international trading port."

There was a branch line to serve the copper mines of Coniston from June 1859 and 10 year later a line from near Ulverston to Lakeside, Newby Bridge, to take tourists to the Windermere steamers.

Tourism also features in the survival of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway which started as a mineral line in 1875.

Maps in the book show just how complex the network of railway lines became within the county - particularly to serve the pits and mining communities in West Cumberland.

The book also looks at how many of these lines have gone or have been adapted to the needs of a modern world - such as the line of the former Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith, which is now field, footpath or road.

The £9.95 book will have its official launch at the association’s autumn meeting on Saturday, November 11, which is being held from 10am at Abbey House Hotel, Barrow.

Talks include Raymond Penn giving his reminiscences of life working on a locomotive footplate and 55 years of railway photography by Dr Les Nixon.

There is also a talk on tolling stock restoration by Rob Murray, from the Stainmore Railway Company.

Attending the event costs £5 on the door.

The book – and displays on the work of the association – can also be seen at the Solrail Workington Model Railway Exhibition at the Energus Building, Lillyhall, Workington, on Saturday and Sunday, November 18 to 19.

An Introduction to Cumbrian Railways by David Joy is available in bookshops or direct from the Cumbrian Railways Association.

You can find out more on the website at cumbrianrailways.org.uk/eventsandmeetings.html