Llanfyllin is also increasingly well known for the old Union Workhouse, known as Y Dolydd locally.
The Llanfyllin branch was a railway line extension of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway to access the limestone resources within the Llanfyllin area; it opened in 1863.
Running in a horse-shoe shape, it passes small market towns such as Llanidloes and quiet villages including Abbeycwmhir and Llanfyllin, traversing central Mid Wales to Machynlleth near the Dyfi estuary and back again across Wales via Lake Vyrnwy and the valley of the River Vyrnwy to Welshpool, close to the English border.
It lies at the foot of the Milltir Cerrig mountain pass on the B4391 road, which runs between Llan Ffestiniog and Llanfyllin (though the B4391 road number 'disappears' between the western end of Llyn Celyn and Bala).