The Forest of Dean Railway was a railway company operating in Gloucestershire, England. It was formed in 1826 when the moribund Bullo Pill Railway and a connected private railway failed, and they were purchased by the new company. At this stage it was a horse-drawn plateway, charging a toll for private hauliers to use it with horse traction. The traffic was chiefly minerals from the Forest of Dean, in the Whimsey and Churchway areas, near modern-day Cinderford, for onward conveyance from Bullo Pill at first, and later by the Great Western Railway.
When the South Wales Railway was proposed in 1844, the FODR was awarded £15,000 to modernise its line and make a broad gauge edge railway in connection; the FODR was slow to implement this and in 1849 the South Wales Railway purchased the FODR outright, making it a branch of its own network. The line was steeply graded and difficult to work, and it was often congested due to heavy traffic.
In 1907 passenger traffic was instituted using railmotors, a low-cost means of carrying light passenger traffic, and for some time this was very successful. Trains ran from Whimsey, later extended northward to Drybridge on a contiguous line built by the GWR. Newnham was the main line junction station, although some branch trains ran through to Gloucester. As motor bus services became dominant, the passenger services became unprofitable and they were withdrawn in 1958. The network was closed completely in 1967 as mineral traffic ceased.
First proposals for a tramroad The Forest of Dean Coalfield had long been a source of mineral working, for iron ore and coal. Free Miners had statutory rights in the Forest, which protected them from external competition. However this limited the extent to which large scale operations could be undertaken. A number of short tramways were built in the Forest, but the road network was extremely difficult and transportation of mineral products to market was expensive and uncompetitive. Timber in the Forest was used for the construction of ships for the Royal Navy, and Crown Commissioners protected the forestry in a way that also impeded industrialisation of the mining.
The first railways—in fact plateways—in the Forest of Dean were designed to connect the rivers Severn and Wye, and it was not until 1806 that a serious proposal came forward to take minerals down the eastern area, southward along the Cinderford valley. That idea failed to progress, but the promoters together took land leases and announced that they would build a railway despite the setback. Work began on the line northward from Bullo Pill; no Parliamentary authority was needed as the land had been acquired.
The Bullo Pill Railway Company
Towards the end of 1808 a further bill was prepared to authorise a public railway or tramroad from the summit of the hill above Churchway Engine (north-west of present-day Cinderford) to Cinderford Bridge. This became the Bullo Pill Railway Act 1809 (49 Geo. 3. c. clviii) on 10 June 1809, which incorporated the Bullo Pill Railway Company.Or 5 May 1809, Carter. There were several short branches serving mineral workings.
On 20 September 1809 a press report announced "the tunnel is completed through Hay-Hill to the Forest of Dean, which is connected with the River Severn, and a channel thus established, by which the valuable productions of the Forest may be brought to market with a feasibility hitherto unknown." The Haie tunnel, at 1,100 yards in length, was one of the earliest to be driven for a railway.
The Bullo Pill Railway was probably completed soon afterwards. The track was of the L-plate form in which plain wagons wheels could run, guided by the upstand of the L. There are uncertainties about the gauge, but four feet measured between the outer faces of the vertical flanges, is generally assumed.
The Whimsey branch was built about 1823, and Whimsey later became an important focal point for private tramroads running northwards.
The Forest of Dean Railway takes control
By 1826 the Bullo Pill Railway was almost at a standstill and Edward Protheroe, a prominent coal-owner in the Parkend area and chairman of the S&WR, purchased the whole concern, including the Great Bilson colliery, selling the railway to a new company he formed, the Forest of Dean Railway Company, of which he was the chairman. The (7 Geo. 4. c. xlvii) was obtained on 5 May 1826 authorising the new company to purchase and maintain both the Bullo Pill Railway and the private line, and to make the latter public. The eighteen subscribers included Edward and three other Protheroes, and the capital was £125,000 in £50 shares. The maximum tolls were maintained over the BPR section, and tolls were laid down for the private section.
The line was in a poor state when the FODR company was formed in 1826, and it was probably then that a chaired form of track was introduced. The chairs weighed 11 lb; they had two bosses fitted into holes in the sleeper blocks, and a dovetail form seat, into which the plate was keyed with an iron wedge. These plates were still 3 feet long, and weighed about 50 lb.
In April 1833 the mild winter was blamed for a reduced demand for house coal which led to a low dividend of 13s per share. In July 1835 the shares (nominally £50) were quoted at £27, but a dividend of 13s per share was again paid. Four months later the figures were £28 and 15s respectively. By October 1837 trade was improving, and 19s per share was paid for the half year. In April 1838 a fall in trade produced a 17s dividend, but in the following year the directors noted with satisfaction how the Dean Forest (Mines) Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. 43) had stimulated mining and trading activity in the district, and in 1839 and 1840 the dividend was up to about 5%.
In October 1834 William Allaway asked the board for permission to use a locomotive on the tramroad. He enquired as to "the weight that six wheels would be allowed to carry", and he probably had in mind the six-coupled engines then being used on the Sirhowy Railway. He was told that the tramroad was not constructed for such engines, and that no "plans or proportions" had been submitted which would indicate what alterations might be necessary.
Proposed duplication of the route By 1836 the lack of a double line, and stoppages at the tunnel, were causing frequent complaints. A sub-committee was appointed and reported in October 1837 that growth in traffic would soon necessitate new provision, in particular for coastwise trade to the west. They suggested a railway from Cinderford Bridge to a new harbour at Brimspill, or Purton, and it was agreed that the chairman should write to Robert Stephenson, asking him to send a surveyor to prepare plans, "on the understanding that the chief superintendence of the undertaking will be entrusted to him, Mr Stephenson".
His report was read to the board on 12 April 1838. He stated that Brimspill was the natural outlet for that portion of the Forest. The new branch was to be 5 miles 68 chains long, and he estimated that the cost, including locomotives, other power and a stock of wagons, would be £40,000. The Crown authorities had approved the line, and it was hoped that iron, iron ore, and coal would be exported from the new harbour, while Bullo harbour would be retained for the existing trade. Stephenson's bill for the survey was £267 8s.
A Bill was introduced into Parliament for the new line from Cinderford Bridge, passing through two tunnels, and touching the village of Blakeney on the way to Brimspill. However the Bill was thrown out for failing to comply with standing orders; some buildings had been omitted from the plans and there was a discrepancy in the datum levels. The chairman, Protheroe, immediately wrote to Stephenson, but he was abroad and George Parker Bidder replied. Bidder could only plead the difficulty of complying with the new and complicated standing orders, and dismissed a 12 feet inaccuracy in a level as "purely clerical ... not significant". The company decided to re-apply for an act of Parliament, but the idea was overtaken by the idea of main line railways in the area.
The South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway was proposed in 1844, encouraged by the Great Western Railway; it was to run from Standish, south-east of Gloucester, to South Wales. There would have been a bridge across the Severn at Fretherne. However it was argued by opponents that this would impede shipping intending to reach Bullo Pill, and to avoid the opposition the promoters of the South Wales Railway agreed to purchase the Forest of Dean Railway for £30,000 and improve it, providing a new branch line to the Severn at Brimspill.
In the event, for unconnected reasons the South Wales Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. cxc) authorised only the section westward from Chepstow, and the crossing of the Severn was omitted. Nevertheless, the South Wales Railway proprietors confirmed on 31 October 1845 the agreement for conditional purchase of the Forest of Dean Railway, the chairman stating that the cost would be £101,000.
The South Wales Railway introduced another Bill in 1847, seeking powers to convert the Forest of Dean Railway line to a broad gauge railway, but this was opposed by the Severn and Wye Railway on the grounds that the different gauge would prevent the interchange of traffic at Churchway. Daniel Gooch, for the SWR, agreed that they could preserve the tramroad down to Findall Mine level, near the tunnel, to meet S&WR objections to a break of gauge at Churchway. The South Wales Railway Amendment Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. cix) was passed on 2 July 1847, and the SWR was authorised to rent or purchase the FODR and to divert, widen and improve it, constructing a locomotive railway. The branch to Bullo Pill was to pass under the South Wales line, permitting direct traffic to the docks, with a spur to the main line.
Acquisition of the Forest of Dean Railway Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as engineer of the South Wales Railway, was not satisfied with the proposed conversion because of the steep gradients involved and the uncertainty as to whether the line might continue to be worked by horses. The South Wales Railway had priorities elsewhere, and the purchase and conversion by them was left in abeyance. The FODR meanwhile, with the promise of their concern being purchased, suspended any expenditure on maintenance or repairs.
This enabled the FODR to enhance its profits: in 1848 the FODR paid a dividend of 8%, but in September 1849 Brunel reported an interview with local traders, who "feared the trade would be seriously inconvenienced if not actually stopped, unless arrangements were made to keep the line in repair". The South Wales Railway board then authorised its solicitors to guarantee the average cost of one month's repair of the FODR. The following month it was reported that a bill had been filed by the FODR to enforce performance of the agreement, and the South Wales Railway thereupon requested Brunel to negotiate some arrangement with the FODR. On 7 November 1849 the South Wales Railway agreed to purchase the FODR for £90,000, to be paid on 27 January 1853. The South Wales Railway was considered to be in possession from 27 July 1849.
The South Wales Railway New Works Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c. lii) was dated 3 July 1851, and it authorised the construction of a single-line broad-gauge locomotive railway from Churchway Engine and Whimsey to the main line (using parts of the tramroad), and a new wharves branch at Bullo; this was in substitution for the 1847 act. The South Wales Railway opened its line from near Gloucester to a temporary station at Chepstow East on 19 September 1851.