This bill passed through the Houses of Parliament, becoming the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict.

By March 1897, Addie had contracted with noted narrow-gauge promoter Everard Calthrop to assist in preparing a case for the inquiry.

At the August 1897 public inquiry Calthrop appeared, along with J. R. Dix manager of the Corris Railway.

After much time-consuming negotiations, the Cambrian agreed and on 8 September 1899, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway Order 1899 was granted to begin construction of the line.

The line is built through difficult country, having a great number of curves in order to reach the summit of 600 ft.

The original terminus at Welshpool was located alongside the main line station and trains wound their way through the town, using the locomotive bell as a warning.

Freight traffic lingered on until 1956, by which time British Railways decided to close the line, with services ceasing on 5 November.

During the spring and early summer of 1965 the 16th Railway Regiment of the Royal Engineers replaced the damaged masonry pier with a fabricated steel one and restored the span to its original position.

[7] Because of the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge, unusual for British narrow-gauge railways, locomotives and rolling stock to supplement the originals have had to be obtained from sources around the world including the Zillertalbahn in Austria.

[8] The bank is nearly a mile at 1 in 29, which in its day, was the steepest section of the Cambrian Railways worked by passenger trains and is still a challenging climb.

There was a halt at the top called Golfa, 1.75 miles or 3.2 km from the Welshpool Raven Square terminus.