The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge railway line in Wales that was intended to connect Carmarthen on the South Wales Railway with Cardigan. In fact, it was unable to raise the necessary capital and was loss-making from the time of opening the first short section of its line in 1860, and it was in receivership for much of its life. It eventually reached Llandysul in 1864 but was not extended further during its independent existence.
Its station at Carmarthen became the focus of several independent cross-country railways which made junctions with it, and for a time the toll charges for the short distances used by their trains was useful income, but the line never became solvent and it sold its concern to the Great Western Railway in 1882. The GWR eventually extended from Llandyssil to Newcastle Emlyn, which improved the use of the line somewhat. Meanwhile, another railway was built to Cardigan from Whitland, and the C&CR line did not extend beyond Newcastle Emlyn.
Passenger trains ceased operating on the Newcastle Emlyn branch in 1952 and on the rest of the line in 1965 apart from access to the creamery north of Pencader until 1973. The exception is the short stub into Carmarthen town that diverges from the through-line from Swansea and is used by all passenger trains serving Carmarthen.