The five mile long railway had been built in 1806 to ship coal, limestone, and iron ore from the Swansea Canal to the harbor at Oystermouth, which was located in the community of Mumbles.

The inauguration on 25 March 1807 of a four-wheeled horse-drawn passenger carriage running on the tracks of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway became the world’s first passenger paying railway service in the world.