Incorporated on 3 August 1846. Opened from Abergavenny to Pontypool on 2 January 1854 and from Hereford to Barton on 16 January 1854 and was worked from the outset by the London & North Western Railway. An extension from to Quakers Yard was authorised on 9 July 1847 and opened on 11 January 1858. The company became a constituent of the WMR in 1860.