Which railway had the first fare-paying passengers?

The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the world's first passenger railway service, located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.

Originally built under an Act of Parliament of 1804 to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles to Swansea and to the markets beyond, it carried the world's first fare-paying railway passengers on 25 March 1807. It later moved from horse power to steam locomotion, and finally converted to electric trams, before closing in January 1960, in favour of motor buses.

At the time of the railway's closure, it had been the world's longest serving railway.

In 1804 the British Parliament approved the laying of a railway line between Swansea and Oystermouth in South Wales, for transportation of quarried materials to and from the Swansea Canal and the harbour at the mouth of the River Tawe, and later that year the first tracks were laid.

The last train ran on the closure of the line in 1960 and only elements of some coaches survive in the Waterside Museum exhibit at Swansea.