The area around Builth Wells was doubly lucky in Victorian times when two railways were built across the landscape connecting the fairly remote communities of the Radnorshire/Breconshire borders with towns and cities far away.
This meant that local businesses could sell their wares in new markets and local people would find new goods from far afield in the shops. Travel out of the area for the first time became a possibility for more people.

The first railway to come to the area was the Mid Wales Railway.
The section through Builth opened on 23 August 1864, when the first train came from Brecon through Three Cocks and Builth, up the Wye valley through Rhayader, and then on to Llanidloes.
The locomotive in the photograph is the Venus, seen here during the building of the railway at Builth in 1864.
Eventually the extension of this line meant that you could travel to Hereford or Newtown easily from Builth by train.

More about railways in the area...

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