Pembroke and Tenby Railway

The Pembroke and Tenby Railway was a locally promoted railway line in south-west Wales; it opened in 1863. The South Wales Railway had earlier been authorised to build a branch line to Pembroke, but failed to do so, and the local supporters built the line. Pembroke Dock was a short ferry crossing from Neyland, the South Wales Railway terminus.

The line was extended to Whitland in 1866; Whitland was on the broad gauge South Wales Railway main line, but as a narrow gauge (later known as "standard gauge") line it could not run through trains on to the SWR. The Pembroke and Tenby Railway hoped to make an alliance with other narrow gauge railways at Carmarthen, and the Great Western Railway (as successor to the South Wales Railway) provided a narrow gauge track to Carmarthen.

The intended partner railways at Carmarthen proved to be not as useful as allies as the P&TR had hoped, and when it faced financial difficulties itself the company sold its line to the Great Western Railway in 1897.

The line remains in use at the present day, as the Pembroke Dock branch line.

The area of south west Wales between Tenby and Pembroke was exceptionally difficult of road access in the early nineteenth century, and coastal shipping was dominant, In 1814 a Royal Navy Dockyard had been established at Pembroke Dock.

There were worthwhile deposits of high quality anthracite in the Saundersfoot area, and to get the extracted coal to the coast for onward shipping transport, a tramroad was proposed. In 1829, Parliamentary authorisation was given for the Saundersfoot Railway and Harbour Company. This was to be a four-feet gauge horse operated tramroad, connecting collieries with a new harbour at Saundersfoot. It began trading on 1 March 1834, and within a few years it comprised a small network of over four miles in extent from Saundersfoot running inland to Thomas Chape, with a branch running north along the coast to Wiseman’s Bridge and to collieries at Stepaside and Kilgetty. There was an ironworks at Stepaside using local iron ore

The South Wales Railway was incorporated in 1845 to build from the Great Western Railway at Gloucester through Cardiff, Swansea and Carmarthen to Fishguard. The authorised capital was £2.8 million. Fishguard Bay was the destination as the strategic intention was to secure the Royal Mail contract for Dublin mails; the Great Western Railway had a close association with railway promoters on the Irish side, who would build a line from Wexford to Dublin. The South Wales Railway itself was an affiliate of the Great Western Railway, and was to be built on the broad gauge, and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

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