The narrow gauge connection was started a few months after the china clay was discovered at Loughley. They used tank wagons built from oil drums and second hand bolster wagons for the liquid, and for the solid they used some tall open wagons with covers fitted. A small 0-6-0 loco was built for the line, named "Lord". It had a black running board, red bufferbeams, gold lining and was covered elsewhere in dark purple. Eventually, they built a single carriage for the line in GNR teak with black GNR lettering.

The line was soon expanded to have proper passenger termini. One at Loughley, one at Bridgewell and another halfway down the line. This was a request stop. After that, they added more and more wagons to keep up with the demand.

When the Southern Railway was given ownership of the line, they built their own engine in SR dark green. This was based on the engines at the Ffestiniog, with some alterations (e.g taller and longer). This proved to be more successful than the 0-6-0, and another was built to keep up demand. They began to accept more goods from other companies and so they needed some of their own vans built. After an accident, inspectors recommended they get a brake van, so they converted a goods van into one.

Post-closure, the line was left mostly untouched, aside from the original sheds - turned into a farmer's hay shed.

In preservation, the volunteers were lucky enough to find a WD diesel loco out of sight in the mine. This was used to repair the railway into perfect condition. The other stroke of luck was finding a class 03 with side plates and cow catchers in the aforementioned farmer's property, acting as a generator. Nobody knows where it came from, though it is suspected to be from the W&U tramway. The number was scraped off, aside from a single "8". It was bought by the Bridgewell Steam Railway Society for a grand total of £30!

When searching for a locomotive to properly serve the line, they found that the loco based on the Ffestiniog's 0-4-0TT had been sent to the Ffestiniog, so they purchased it. A year later, a replica of the 0-6-0 steamed out of the workshops looking smarter than the original ever had. The line extends to the quarry, and the quarry is now open for tours. The only part of the line still out of use is one section that extended down to a farm. This section this section still has most of the sleepers, though some parts are covered by a new line (owned by Network Rail) towards a power plant.