to link Ulverston with , on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway thus giving a rail link southwards from Furness and West Cumbria to the West Coast Main Line so that – as the Earl of Burlington noted at a celebratory banquet marking the opening of the line on 26 August 1857 – they "were now joined in the great network of the rest of England", allowing a lucrative goods traffic:
In 1858, after completion of the U&LR, modifications were made to the junctions at Foxfield (with the W&FJR) and at Millwood (where the Broughton and Ulverston branches met) to allow through running of Whitehaven-Carnforth traffic without reversing.
From its opening, the U&LR was worked by the Furness Railway, which purchased it (with effect from July 1861) in 1862,<!-- --> taking over the Ulverston Canal Company in the same year.
Furness and Midland Joint Railway
In 1863, in conjunction with the Midland Railway, the promoted a bill for the Furness and Midland Joint Railway (F&MJR) between Wennington and Carnforth; the intention was said to be to give a more direct connection between the iron ore of Furness and Yorkshire ironworks and coal-mines. The London and North Western Railway cast doubt on this, pointing out that Furness got its metallurgical coke from South Durham over the Stainmore line and exported most of its ore to districts better served by the LNWR, but withdrew its objection on being offered the same powers as the Midland over the . The F&MJR opened for passenger traffic 6 June 1867; it was worked by the Midland. The secured an act of Parliament, the (30 & 31 Vict. c. civ), for the construction of the Hincaster Branch from to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Hincaster. This single-track line was intended to shorten the distance to Barrow for the coke traffic over Stainmore. In 1870, the brought forward, and then abandoned, a bill authorising abandonment of the project; construction was pursued with no great urgency, the line not opening until June 1876.
Lines in the West Cumberland ore-field
The objected when in 1877 the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway (WC&ER) agreed terms for its amalgamation with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR); instead as of July 1879 the WC&ER became a joint line of the Furness and the LNWR.|source=Whitehaven News
It had been reported that in 1856, 464,823 tons of iron ore were raised in Furness "of which 445,013 tons were carried over the Furness Railway and shipped at Barrow, 16,290 on the Ulverston canal, and 3,550 consumed at the Charcoal Iron Furnaces and at the Low Furness Iron and Steel Works. Of the ore carried over the Furness line 200,000 tons are sent to Wales, and the remainder to the Staffordshire, Cleveland and West Riding Iron districts."
A very small village at Barrow grew into one of about 2,000 serving the ore-export facility there, with the Furness Railway effectively responsible for the settlement. The took over Barrow Harbour from its commissioners in 1863 to allow the construction of wet docks at Barrow; it obtained powers in the Furness Gas and Waterworks Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. clxix) to supply Barrow and the surrounding district with gas and water.
Barrow grew rapidly in the 1860s, as The Engineer noted: