Lampeter is a small market town in rural west Wales located between Carmarthen to the south and Aberystwyth to the north. St David's College, built in 1822 and opened on St David's Day, March 1st, 1827, gave Lampeter prominence, developing a considerable reputation as a remote seat of learning affiliated with both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

Lampeter Station was built by the Manchester & Milford Railway as part of the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line and was opened January 1st 1866. The M&MR ran into problems, mostly financial and by 1900 was in negotiation to sell off the line to the nearest competitor. After some wrangling between the GWR and Cambrian Railways, the Great Western agreed to take over the line, an arrangement that commenced on July 1st 1905 and by 1911 Lampeter was a fully fledged GWR station.

In 1906 the Lampeter, Aberayron & New Quay Light Railway was commenced, and opened May 12th 1911. This line ran from Aberayron Junction, 1 mile north of Lampeter, and ran for 27 miles via Talsarn and Felin Fach through to Aberaeron. This was operated by the GWR and consisted mainly of local passenger auto trains and some light freight traffic.

The station was located on the eastern edge of the town, close to St David's College, and surrounded by fields and woodlands. In 1916 some considerable renovation was carried out, the M&MR signal box that stood at the end of the short down platform was removed, and a GWR style brick signal box was built at the start of the up platform. Both platforms were extended considerably, and a small extension was added to one end of the main station building.

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