The railway from Hereford to Brecon opened in stages - to Eardisley in June 1863, Hay was reached in June 1864 and Three Cocks in September 1864, after which trains ran on the Mid Wales Railway to Talyllyn and then the Brecon & Merthyr Railway into Brecon. The following year the HH&B agreed to merge with the Brecon & Merthyr Railway but the paperwork was never completed and in the end it was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1876. The line was closed in the early 1960s as part of the Becching cuts