The Tanat Valley Light Railway (TVLR) was a 15-mile (24 km) long standard gauge light railway. It ran westwards from Llanyblodwel in Shropshire, about 5 miles or 8 km south-west of Oswestry. It crossed the Wales–England border and continued up the Tanat valley, terminating at Llangynog in Powys. It opened in 1904, providing access to a fairly remote area, and transport facilities for slate production and agriculture.

Llanyblodwel is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England; the spelling "Llanyblodwell" was commonly used in the past, and the village was sometimes simply referred to as "Blodwel". The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 767. It lies 7 miles west of the nearest town, Oswestry, in the valley of the River Tanat. Simon Jenkins, in his guide to English churches says of Llanyblodwel that "the Welsh Marches are seldom so lovely as where the River Tanat crosses the border through the steep wooded valleys west of Oswestry."