The Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway was incorporated in 1866 as a combination of the Burry Port Harbour Co and the Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal Co who, had been authorised to convert the canal into a railway one year previously. The line was built on the canal bed or towpath. It opened in Pontyberem in 1869 and was extended to Cwmmawr in 1886. The Cwm-Capel Branch linked Achddu Colliery (nprn 33374) and Cwm-Capel Colliery (nprn 33391) with the harbour at Burry Port (nprn 34224). In 1985 the route into Burry Port closed and a new connection was made with the main line at Kidwelly.

In 1989 the line was still carrying regular traffic from the washeries at Cwmmawr and Carway. Related surviving features of both the railway and the canal inlcude; Spudder's Bridge Aqueduct (nprn 34394), Stanley Bridge (nprn 34750), Hirwaunissa Inclined Plane, (nprn 309237), Cwmmawr Basin (nprn 309321), and Cwmawr Aqueduct (nprn 309323).

Source: 'A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region', Hughes S and Reynolds P, Association for Industrial Archaeology, 1989.

Claire Parry, RCAHMW, 25 October 2011.