The Corris, Machynlleth and River Dovey Tramroad was established in 1859 as a narrow-gauge (2?3??) horse and gravity worked tramroad, connecting the slate quarries of the Corris area to a shipping point on the Dovey at Quay Ward, Derwenlas (NPRN 409331). By the 1860s the line ceased to deliver slate direct to shipping, and instead linked, at Machynlleth Station (NPRN 43019), to the standard gauge main line of the Cambrian Railway. In 1878 the line was acquired by Imperial Tramways Ltd of London and three steam locomotives and ten purpose-built passenger carriages were introduced. For the remainder of the nineteenth century the railway was very prosperous, developing substantial tourist traffic. Passenger services were finally withdrawn in the 1930s and the line continued in use for goods only until 1948, when it became one of the first to be closed by the newly-nationalised British Railways (after this slate carriages were pulled by tractor). The line was dismantled soon after closure, the surviving locomotives and rolling stock finding a new life on the nearby Talyllyn Railway, where they are still to be seen in operation. In 1966 a group from the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society formed the Corris Railway Society and in 2002 a short section (around ? mile) of the railway was re-opened and runs today as a passenger service form the Corris Railway Museum (former station buildings) in the centre of the village to the Maespoeth engine shed (NPRN 301718).

The main line ran from a terminus at Aberllefenni, opposite the Saw Mill, down to Machynlleth. From Aberllefenni, the trackbed followed the road through the village, and then through the fields to Corris, defined today by distinctive slate fencing. Once in Corris it runs behind the Pant y Celyn cottages and crosses a bridge over the Afon Dulas to the station. From Corris the line then ran alongside the main road and can be clearly traced to about ? mile short of Machynlleth. It then crossed the Dyfi where the new cycle bridge is located and continued across the fields to the town station. The original line to the shipping point at Derwenlas can also be intermittently traced from the bricked up arch where the main road passes under the railway at Machynlleth and also through sections of embankment and cuttings (NPRNs 403008 & 43019).

Three feeder tramways also feed off this main line. One fed off at Maespoeth and ran north via Braich Goch to Corris Uchaf (SH 7432 0890), another ran from Aberllefenni to Cymerau Quarry along the Ratgoed Valley (SH 7800 1207) and a short section ran from Aberllefenni Quarry itself to the Aberllefenni Saw Mill.

Louise Barker, RCAHMW, June 2010