The Teifi Valley Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Dyffryn Teifi) is a narrow gauge railway occupying a section of the former standard gauge Great Western Railway line between Llandysul and Newcastle Emlyn. After the closure of the former line by British Rail in 1973, a preservation group built and periodically extended a narrow-gauge railway along the route, westwards from Henllan, eventually operating a long line as a tourist attraction.
In 2014, the railway closed and much of the track was lifted. It re-opened in 2016, running along about of relaid track.
History
The Teifi Valley Railway occupies a section of the route formerly occupied by a standard gauge line between Llandysul and Newcastle Emlyn, itself built as an extension of the original Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway by the Great Western Railway in the late 19th Century.
Background
With the opening of the South Wales Railway, Carmarthen's economic prosperity grew. A scheme to link Carmarthen with a proposed deep-water port in Cardigan found form as the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway; a troubled scheme which opened in stages (hindered by the challenging topography of the Gwili valley and the sheer expense incurred in the construction of the Pencader Tunnel). Despite its name, the company only achieved construction of a line as far Llandysul, opening in 1864. The company fell into receivership shortly thereafter.
With the ambition of furthering the line to Newcastle Emlyn, The Tivy Side Railway Company was incorporated and authorised to extend the line. Despite progressing to the point where the project received an authorising Act of Parliament, the scheme never became a reality and the extension remained unbuilt.
Amidst an uncertain future and a difficult financial position, the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was eventually leased to the Great Western Railway, with absorption by the latter taking place by 1882. The corresponding Act of Parliament combined the authorising of both the sale of the undertaking with re-authorising the construction of an extension to Newcastle Emlyn.
Construction from Llandysul
Preparations to extend the line beyond Llandysul remained slow; only by March 1890 were the Great Western Railway inviting tenders for the construction contract. Progress was hampered by the abandonment of the contract by the original contractor, a Mr Rugby; however construction, led by a Mr Jones of Neath, was underway by March 1892, with completion of the extension anticipated by the end of the following year. By July 1893, the construction had reached Trebedw, but completion remained elusive. With much fanfare and celebration, the line between Llandysul and Newcastle Emlyn was finally opened in July 1895. There was one intermediate station at Henllan; joined by Pentrecourt Halt, which opened in 1912, seventeen years after the line opened. The opening of an additional intermediate halt had been subject to extensive local support and petitioning.
With the Great Western Railway's link to Cardigan from Carmarthen via the Whitland and Cardigan Railway and South Wales Railway, the route did not extend beyond Newcastle Emlyn. The line never progressed further.
Abandonment
The line ultimately carried passengers for less than sixty years; being a rural branch line and serving a sparse local population, the passenger service was withdrawn along on 13 September 1952, a consequence of post-nationalisation rationalisation.
In addition to enthusiast railtours, freight traffic continued until 1973. The entirety of the line between the Carmarthen and Newcastle Emlyn stations closed in September 1973 (Pentrecourt Halt had closed with the cessation of passenger services in 1952, and Henllan had closed in 1965).
The structures and earthworks comprising the permanent way of the former line remained in place in their entirety. Station sites were either demolished or redeveloped.
Preservation
The Dyfed Railway Company was incorporated on 5 December 1973 as a vehicle for purchasing the trackbed and attaining a requisite Light Railway Order. Preservation efforts were initially led by Dr. George Penn, with early efforts focused on purchase of the line before it was dismantled, and running a preserved standard gauge undertaking. However, such efforts were not as successful as the concurrent project further down the valleys at Bronwydd Arms railway station, where the Gwili Railway had been successful in negotiating the purchase of a single mile of in situ track; the Newcastle Emlyn branch was lifted in 1975.