A 4.13 kilometre long horse-worked railway built in 1796 by Edward Martin leading from the newly completed Swansea Canal at Clydach to a new mine at SN6796 0275 in Cwm Clydach. Many successive branches to various mining ventures were added producing an eventual 12.5km of track, not all in use at the same time. The line was always an edge railway - starting off at 3ft 7in gauge, having locomotives in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth-century and being largely converted to standard-gauge in that period. The railway ceased operation in 1961. Much of the track formation survives as public footpaths alongside the Lower Clydach River in now beautiful wooded surroundings (Stephen Hughes, 15.03.2007).