Carmarthenshire Railway
The Carmarthenshire Railway or Tramway began operating as a horse-drawn railway, linking Alexander Raby’s iron furnace in the village of Cwmddyche (later Furnace) to his shipping place on the coast.
It was later incorporated into the Carmarthenshire Railway and was the second railway to be sanctioned, when an Act of Parliament was passed on June 3rd 1802, authorised by George III, allowing its construction to run from the river Bury in Llanelly to Castell-y-Garseg quarries in Llanfihangel-Aberbythych, in the Llandebie limestone ditrict, 16 miles. The railway linked Raby’s furnace and various collieries to important mineral sources in the Great Mountain area, Cross Hands. Powers were also given to build a dock or basin on the river.
The railway, the earliest operating public railway in Great Britain, consisted of horse-drawn wagons running on cast iron tram-plates.
1806 The line was opened as far as Gorslas, 12 miles, in 1806, and one trip in each direction, by two horses, was made each day.
1844 The railway company went into liquidation and the dock was taken over by the Llanelly Harbour Commission.
1868 Engineer is Lane and Bagot.[1]
1875 The Railroad was replaced by the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway, formed to convert the Carmarthenshire Railway from a tramroad into a railway.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 1873-81: minutes held in National Archives