Ulverston Railway Station celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Furness Railway

Made at a Cumbrian foundry and bearing the company’s familiar Red Squirrel motif, the seats were copies of original Furness Railway furniture.

Few original seats had survived, although there were two still in use at Ulverston station’s booking hall.

The replica seats were being made following a joint initiative launched by South Lakeland District Council and the Furness Railways Supporters Group to mark the 150th anniversary of the company in 1996.

They were seeking sponsors to help pay for the seats, which cost £295 including carriage and VAT.

The replica seats were to be sited along the Furness Railway route mainly in parks and gardens in Ulverston and Grange.

The first four, sponsored by Cumbria County Council, were due to be in place close to Grange station in March 1995, said Tony Naylor, of SLDC’s parks department.

The anniversary in 1996 coincided with the Year of the Red Squirrel and for every seat sold the council would give £5 towards saving the endangered species.

The question had been raised while making the seats as to why the red squirrel featured on Furness Railway furniture.

"We would certainly like to know why,” said Mr Naylor. “We would also like to find out the original colours of Furness Railway seats.

“At present the replicas have been painted black with green ends and red squirrels.”

In 1990 pupils from St Mary’s School at Ulverston gathered at Ulverston Railway Station, kitted out with gas masks, ration books and tied with identity labels.

They were gaining an insight into what it must have been like for children who were evacuated during the Second Word War.

They travelled by train from Ulverston to Dalton, where they met some ‘real’ evacuees, who spoke about being sent out of London in the 1940s.

Teacher Janet Heath said: "During the war many children were evacuated from the Barrows bombing raids to Dalton, Ambleside, Windermere and Staveley."