Great Western Railway in West Wales

Although the South Wales Railway was to be an independent company, it was supported by the GWR and had many mutual directors and investors, and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

A perpetual lease of the line to the Great Western Railway was agreed at this time, on the basis of a rent of 5% on the capital of £4 million (shares and loans combined) and half of any surplus profit.

"[8] The report appeared to call into question the gauge of the already authorised South Wales Railway, but the Lords of the Board of Trade, having considered the matter, modified the policy.

By providing a transport medium between southern Ireland and the GWR network, it was hoped to secure the Post Office contract for mail between London and Dublin.

In 1845, there was a catastrophic failure of the potato crop on which a majority of Irish people depended for a living; this resulted in mass starvation and commercial depression, which deepened the following year.

Engineering features of the route included Cockett Tunnel, of 789 yards and preceded on the Swansea side, by three embankment stabilisation structures, two of which were slender brick large radius arches, the third, a short tunnel, a timber viaduct at Loughor with a wrought iron swing bridge opening section, a timber viaduct at Kidwelly with a wrought iron lifting bridge section.

As the berthing facilities were expanded, four pontoons were incorporated into the works from the Cornwall Railway, where they had been used for floating the main spans of the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash.

The western terminus of the line was now to be at Neyland, which was only a short ferry crossing from Pembroke Dock, and the South Wales Railway were reluctant to construct the branch.

The South Wales Railway attempted some delaying tactics, but were obliged to go to Parliament to ask for an extension of time, and the dividend for the first half of 1857 was not paid.

These went well and the unsatisfactory hybrid working arrangement was replaced by conventional lease at a rent of £170,000 per annum from 1 January 1862, from which date the SWR was for all practical purposed part of the GWR system.

The Central Wales Railway was authorised on 13 August 1859 to build southwards from Craven Arms, near Shrewsbury, to Llandrindod Wells; it opened its line on 10 October 1865.

Meanwhile, the M&MR had been building northwards, and opened its own line as far as Strata Florida (the railway location was known locally as Ystrad Meurig at first) for goods trains by the end of August 1866.

[5][23] The construction of the new lines obliged the Llanelly company to borrow large sums of money at crippling interest rates, and it was soon in a desperate financial situation.

The Great Western Railway was alarmed that the LNWR now had access to Swansea, and quickly took steps to take over the Llanelly company's Original Lines from 1 January 1873.

However the means of running from Whitland to Carmarthen required the Great Western Railway to alter its broad gauge track to mixed gauge, to enable the running of the P&TR trains; the GWR did not hasten to facilitate this incursion, and the P&TR directors considered building an independent line from Whitland to Carmarthen, and obtained Parliamentary powers in 1866.

As these were friendly to the rival London and North Western Railway, this had the potential to admit the LNWR to the West Wales area, an extremely unwelcome outcome for the GWR.

On 29 April 1873, the board decided to proceed with construction to Crymmych by directly employed labour, and the short extension opened early in July 1874.

Following the gauge conversion, the opportunity was taken to enlarge the facilities at the cramped Neyland site; considerable removal of rock was necessary to make the space, and the new layout was commissioned in 1876.

However at the last moment it was decided to continue, and the contractor John Waddell agreed to construct the line, taking a large proportion of his price in shares in the company.

The Waterford and Wexford Railway was engaged in improving the harbour facilities at Rosslare, (formerly known as Greenore or Ballygeary[14] and negotiations took place to combine the activities on both sides of the ferry crossing.

Together with reclamation by tipping the excavated rock into the sea, an area of twenty-seven acres was made available for quay 1,120 feet long, and the new railway station.

[31] Three new turbine steamers, St. George, St. David, and St. Patrick, each of approximately 2,500 gross tons and capable of 22+1⁄2 knots, were provided for the new service; the crossing time was three hours for a 54-mile passage.

[31] "New Milford" resumed its proper name of Neyland, and the ferry activity there ceased,[22] as the Waterford service was diverted to Fishguard from September 1906, mainly carrying cattle and goods.

[32] Towards 1909, the steamer traffic between Great Britain and America became increasingly competitive, and the traditional use of Liverpool was questioned, if a shorter crossing time could be achieved elsewhere.

White Star liners had started to use Holyhead, and the Cunard Company arranged to land its passengers at Fishguard, forty miles nearer New York and within five hours of London.

Moreover, the size of shipping commonly used increased considerably over this period, and the limitations of sea access for large vessels to Llanelly docks also reduced the activity there.

In 1938, the site was again made use of, now as a Royal Naval Armaments Depot, and an extensive internal narrow gauge railway system was laid, eventually amounting to over 18 miles in extent.

The line had survived until then because of the extensive locomotive and carriage servicing facilities there (from the 1876 expansion), but modern traction enabled the work to be carried out elsewhere, in Swansea and Carmarthen.

[13][20] Nonetheless, Pembrokeshire was only lightly affected by the 1963 Beeching Report as none of the remaining three branches - to Fishguard, Milford Haven, and Pembroke Dock - were proposed for closure.

From 1979, Iarnród Éireann was established as a subsidiary of CIÉ, so that Stena Line and IÉ were the joint owners of F&RR&H, which remains the position to the present day (2015).