for railways from Kidwelly into the Gwendraeth Fach Valley but the powers lapsed without any construction taking place, but in 1864 a Bill was presented by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway to build two broad or mixed gauge branches from the GWR at Kidwelly. The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a broad gauge line friendly to the Great Western Railway. One of the proposed branches, known as the "Lime Line", was to be routed via Mynydd-y-Garreg to Velindre in the Gwendraeth Fach Valley; the other, known as the "Coal Line" was to cross the canal and the river Gwendraeth Fawr in an eastward direction and then curve north-eastwards via the Carway Colliery up the Gwendraeth Fawr Valley to Coalbrook. The Coal Line was thrown out in Parliament but the Lime Line was authorised by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway Act of 28 April 1864. A second attempt at the Coal Line was made in the following session of Parliament, and this time it was authorised by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway (Kidwelly Extension) Act of 29 June 1865. However the C&CR found itself unable to raise the capital authorised, and it never reached Cardigan, nor built the branch. As part of the financial solution, the two Kidwelly branches were transferred to a new company: the Gwendraeth Valleys Railway (GVR), authorised by Act of 30 July 1866. This new concern duly completed a short length of the Lime Line to Mynydd-y-Garreg and this opened to broad gauge traffic in 1868. A short section of the earthworks for the Coal Line was completed, but then this line was abandoned. Converting the canal At this time there were also movements to revive the old Carmarthenshire Railway; this had been built as a plateway in 1804, bringing down minerals from Cross Hands to a harbour at Llanelly. The Llanelly Railway and Dock Company had opened a line from Llanelly to serve pits in the Cwmamman area, also reaching Cross Hands and extending to Llandeilo. In 1861 the LR&D obtained Parliamentary authority to extend from Llandeilo to Carmarthen, and the line opened to goods trains in 1864. Coupled with the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway, these schemes represented a definite competitive threat to the Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal and Tramroad Company, and it submitted a Parliamentary Bill to convert the obsolescent canal system to a railway. The Bill received the Royal Assent on 5 July 1865;