First Passenger Service

In the year 1807, the Mumbles Railway carried passengers. It was the first railway in the world to do so.
The picture shows what the first passenger train might have looked like. It is a sketch of Simon Llewellyn's 'car' which was built in 1819. A replica of this car can be seen in Swansea Museum. The guns below were used on the horse drawn train to guard the passengers.

Did you know that the first passenger carriages were made from the mineral wagons used on the tramroad?
One traveller wrote: 'The car is intended to carry sixteen persons and runs on a railway drawn by one horse. I was much pleased with my ride, being all along the sands, the scenery grand, particularly Oystermouth Castle and the Bay of Swansea'.

A replica of one of the first passenger carriages was built for the 150th anniversary of the Mumbles Railway in 1954. This carriage, along with other exhibits, can be seen at the tramshed of the Swansea Industrial and Maritime Muesum.

Did you know that there was an experiment conducted in 1807 to find out if a train could be powered by the wind? It took three-quarters of an hour to travel 4½ miles.