Train users faced two days of misery, after services on the West Coast Mainline were severely impacted by damage to overhead wires.

Thousands of passengers struggled to get to their destination after dozens of cancellations on Wednesday, continuing well into yesterday.

Overhead lines between Lancaster and Preston snapped, with services running as far north as Preston before replacement buses took passengers to Carlisle. Services then resumed north from there.

One frustrated Cumbrian passenger said a journey from Preston to Carlisle took more than six hours longer than expected.

“I’m self-employed and had to cancel all of my clients,” they added.

After working through the night, engineers from Network Rail resolved the problems and manage to reopen the lines from Lancashire by late morning yesterday - although some delays continued into the afternoon.

A number of passengers had to travel to Scotland via the northeast and continue their journey via Newcastle or York.

A spokesman from National Rail said: “Repair work was carried out throughout the night."