Summary
The Carmarthenshire Railway was a horse-worked plateway built in South Wales in 1803.
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Llanelli |
| Locale | Wales |
| Dates of operation | 1803–1844 |
| Successor | Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft (1,219 mm) |
| Length | 11.5 mi (18.5 km) |
History edit
The Carmarthenshire Railway or Tramroad was authorised under an Act of Parliament of 3 June 1802 – the first granted for a public railway in Wales – to acquire the existing Carmarthenshire Dock at Llanelly and its feeder tramroad built by Alexander Raby by 1799,[1] thus incidentally becoming the world's first dock-owning public railway company.[2] The first 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from Cwmddyche ironworks down to the sea was open in May 1803 – the first stretch of public railway in use in Britain[1] – and construction ceased in 1805 when the line had reached Gorslas. The engineer was named James Barnes and the gauge was approximately 4 ft (1,219 mm).[1]
The line ceased to operate in or before 1844 and portions of its course were utilised by the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway, opened in 1881.[1]
References edit