Catalogue description Whitland and Cardigan Railway Company

The W&C was incorporated as the Whitland & Taf Vale Railway Company (WTV) by the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway Act 1869 which authorised the construction of a railway commencing at a junction with the GWR two miles west of the GWR's Whitland Station and terminating in a field on the eastern side of the road between Narbeth Road Station (sited on the Carmarthen and Haverfordwest Line) and Cardigan, about sixty yards from the Crymmych Arms Inn in the parish of Llanfyrnach (Pemb). The first section to be opened was between the junction and Llanfyrnach on 24 Mar 1873 and the second part between Llanfyrnach and Crymmych Arms was opened in Oct 1874; the total distance being nearly fourteen and a quarter miles. These openings were for goods traffic only, the first passenger train travelled the line on 12 July 1875.

The Whitland and Taf Vale (Cardigan Extension) Railway Act 1877 empowered the WTV to extend its railway to Cardigan by authorising the construction of a railway from the WTV's existing terminus to Foundry Field in the parish of St Dogmells at a point about one hundred yards south of Cardigan Bridge. To reflect the whole projected route, the same act changed the WTV's name to the W&C.

The extension, just over eleven miles in length, was opened on 1 Sept 1886 and on that day the GWR took over the running of the line. The W&C was absorbed into the GWR on 1 July 1890 under the powers of the Great Western Railway Act 1890.