page_title: "Little" North Western Railway
section_title: Extension to Heysham
hierarchical_section_title: "Little" North Western Railway / Extension to Heysham
caption_attribution_description: Pre Grouping railway junction around Lancaster &amp; Morecambe, Carnforth
context_page_description: The North Western Railway was an early British railway company in the north-west of England. It was commonly known as the "Little" North Western Railway, to distinguish it from the larger London and North Western Railway.
  The NWR was first leased, and later taken over, by the Midland Railway. The MR used part of the line for its London to Scotland Settle and Carlisle main line.
  The NWR main line, which ran from Skipton in the West Riding of Yorkshire to Morecambe on the Lancashire coast, gave the MR access to the west coast in an area dominated by the rival LNWR.
  Part of the line, between Lancaster and Morecambe, was used in the early twentieth century for pioneering overhead electrification.
  Two-thirds of the line, in North Yorkshire, is still in use today, mainly for local services. Of the dismantled Lancashire section, two-thirds has been reused as a combined cyclepath and footpath.
context_section_description: Heysham Harbour was opened by the Midland Railway in 1904, to replace the same company's harbour in Morecambe. A branch line from the NWR line had already opened for contractors on 12 November 1898 but was opened to passengers on 1 September 1904. The new line made a triangular junction with the existing NWR line a very short distance east of the junction with the LNWR line from Hest Bank.
caption: Railways around Lancaster and Morecambe in 1913
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