Manchester and Milford Railway |
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The Manchester and Milford Railway was a Welsh railway company, intended to connect Manchester and the industrial areas of North West England with a deep-water port on Milford Haven, giving an alternative to the Port of Liverpool.
Despite the title, it was planned to connect other railways at Llanidloes and Pencader, near Carmarthen, and achieve the object in its name by connections with other lines, most of which were only planned. The M&MR had continuous difficulty in raising capital and also in operating profitably but, thanks to a wealthy supporter, it opened from Pencader to Lampeter in 1866. Realising that its originally intended route to Llanidloes would be unprofitable, it diverted the course at the north end to Aberystwyth, which it reached in 1867.
Sunk by financial difficulties, it was eventually absorbed into the Great Western Railway in 1911. Passenger operation ceased in 1964 and milk trains ran to a creamery until final closure in 1973.