The Rio Tinto Mining Railway is one of the most iconic in our country. While its primary purpose was the mass exploitation of these pyrite and copper mines by British capital, it also transported passengers and various goods. 'The Rio Tinto Cº Ltd' acquired the historic Rio Tinto mines from the State in 1873. Transporting the mineral to the coast for export was an unavoidable issue, and the railway was undoubtedly the best solution. After a tumultuous concession process, the construction of a 84 km railway line began in the same founding year, with the peculiar British gauge of 1,067 mm, to which were added another 264 km of mine access, sidings, docks, and branches.

The line was inaugurated in 1875, following the course of the Tinto River all the way to Huelva. There, the company built the spectacular maritime loading dock in the Huelva estuary, a dock still preserved as an industrial heritage monument. From Niebla to Huelva, the tracks ran parallel to those of the Sevilla-Huelva Railway, crossing at San Juan del Puerto with another mining railway that went up to the Buitrón mines. On its eastern side, the Rio Tinto train had branches to Zalamea (where it connected with the Buitrón Railway) and to Nerva, where it linked up with other mining lines to Seville, forming part of a complex network of narrow-gauge mining lines.

The British era in the mines and trains ended in 1954 when it was acquired by 'Compañía Española de Minas de Rio Tinto, S.A.' Interestingly, the English company continued to operate under the Spanish name worldwide until 1978. Its fleet of equipment was immense: 143 steam locomotives, 10 diesel locomotives, 7 electric locomotives, 1,200 wagons, and about 2,000 mining wagons, along with auxiliary material. It had spectacular traffic, but the end of mining activity led to its closure, first for passenger services in 1968, and total closure in 1984. From that splendor, an 11 km stretch of track has survived, operating since 1994 as a Tourist Railway in the mining area, from Rio Tinto to Los Frailes.