The Forest of Dean Central Railway was a mineral railway line designed to connect certain collieries in the central part of the Forest of Dean to a new dock at Brimspill on the River Severn. It was authorised by the Forest of Dean Central Railway Act 1856, but serious difficulties were encountered in raising the money to build it. It opened in 1868 by which time the principal colliery intended to be served had ceased operation. It was unable to finance the construction of the dock at Brimspill and relied on transfer of traffic to the main line of the South Wales Railway (later the Great Western Railway).
It was a broad gauge line, and it was worked from the outset by the Great Western Railway. It was converted to standard gauge in 1872. The limited traffic potential resulted in a continuing inability to pay routine outgoings, and it was leased to the Great Western Railway in 1885.
About 1921 the last colliery on the line ceased operation and the line was shortened back to Blakeney, where there was a goods depot. That business too ended in 1949, and there was no more commercial use of the line.
Background For centuries, the Forest of Dean has been an important site of mineral extraction: coal and iron ore, and also stone. Free Miners had certain exclusive rights to minerals, but the restriction on outside involvement had prevented the introduction of capital and large scale industrial processes. Moreover, the extremely poor road network in the area, due in part to the very hilly terrain, added cost to the products of the Forest. The Crown interest in timber had resulted in statutory control of development.
The small scale mining operations needed to get their output to market, generally by river transport on the Severn or the Wye, and a number of tramways, generally plateways, had been constructed. This culminated in the construction of the Severn and Wye Railway and the Forest of Dean Railway.H W Paar, The Great Western Railway in Dean: A History of the Railways of the Forest of Dean : Part Two, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, second edition 1971,
Early proposals By 1830, tramroads were well established in the Forest of Dean for conveying the mineral products of the Forest to market. A coal mine was being developed at Foxes Bridge, about a mile east of Speech House, and the promoter Edward Protheroe proposed a "Steam Carriage Road", that is, a steam tramway to convey the output via Howbeach Slade to the Severn at Purton Pill, near the site of the later Severn Railway Bridge; it was to be about eight miles in extent.
The scheme was presented in Parliament in 1832 and some construction took place, but the line was never finished. A considerable number of proposals were put forward in the following years to construct a tramroad or railway from the area to the River Severn, but all failed to materialise.
In 1840 Edward Protheroe agitated to persuade the Severn and Wye Railway to construct a steam railway from Lydney up to Foxes Bridge, but the S&WR were not interested. In 1849 a similar line was proposed from Brimspill on the Severn to Howbeach Slade and Foxes Bridge; this did not go ahead, and a further scheme was put forward in 1850. This too failed.Humphrey Household, Gloucestershire Railways in the Twenties, Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, Gloucester, 1984,
The Commissioners of Woods were strongly in favour of these proposals, because they would promote improved railway facilities in the forest. The commissioners reported in 1852 that the existing railways were unsatisfactory and antiquated, and that the opening of the South Wales Railway and the conversion of the Severn and Wye Railway to an edge railway heralded a new era. The Forest of Dean Railway was mentioned, as was the necessity for a new railway to serve the central part of the Forest.John Marshall, The Forest of Dean Central Railway, Railway Magazine, June 1958
The Forest of Dean Central Railway authorised Heartened by the support of the commissioners, promoters put forward a bill in Parliament for the line; they included William Racster Wagstaff, Timothy Bennett and James Teague. The gauge was to be the same as that of the South Wales Railway, at that time broad gauge. Passenger traffic was provided for, though no such service was ever operated. However a toll of 2d per mile was stipulated for persons riding in road carriages conveyed on trucks. The Commissioners of Woods were authorised to subscribe £20,000 in instalments at 5 per cent interest. The company was entitled to borrow £21,660 on mortgage and the GWR advanced £15,000.
The (19 & 20 Vict. c. c) received royal assent on 11 July. It was to run from Foxes Bridge Colliery to Brimspill, serving Howbeach Colliery on the way, with a branch line from New Fancy Colliery. The capital authorised was £65,000 in £10 shares.E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959 Brimspill is a tidal creek near Poulton Court on modern maps.
Much of the land was leased from the Crown at a rent of £100 a year, and the company was required to fence it throughout. It was decided that the sections from the South Wales Railway to New Fancy Colliery, and from Moseley Green to Foxes Bridge with the branch at Brimspill, should be built in two successive years. Plans were already being made for extending the line, and on 29 November 1856 an application was published for the Forest of Dean Central, Lydbrook & Hereford, Ross & Gloucester Junction Railway. This would extend the Forest of Dean Central Railway to the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway line near Mitcheldean Road station, with a later extension to Ledbury. This was presented to Parliament in the 1857 session, but in fact no powers for the work were obtained. (In the 1870s a line was built on part of the intended route by the Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway.)
The engineer Richard B. Grantham considered various forms of permanent way and he recommended 100 lb per yard Barlow rail with cross sleepers at the joints, at a cost of £1,960 per mile. This system had proved fairly satisfactory on other lightly used lines, although gauge retention problems were beginning to be apparent.
The report of the first half-yearly meeting, on 28 February 1857, was optimistic. It was intended to complete the line to New Fancy Colliery Junction in Moseley Green by Christmas 1858, serving Howbeach Engine, Blackpool Engine and other collieries which were expected to be in a position to supply a large quantity of coal to the railway. The New Fancy Colliery was said to be in a forward state and would, when opened, afford large traffic. Grantham had received two tenders for construction of the line, one for £43,260 and the other for £47,500, excluding rails and sleepers. E. W. Morris, the contractor offering the higher estimate, secured the contract.
By November 1857 the harbour at Brimspill had been designed: the dock was to be about 176 yards by 154 yards and 22 feet deep at spring tides. Entry would be by a lock about 88 yards long.
In 1859 the confidence of the directors was such that they declared that "Since the line was projected, large coalfields have been got into working order, and consequently the expectations formed with regard to traffic has been so far realised." The coalfields referred to are difficult to identify, and at the time of this assertion the company's bank balance stood at £3.Rex Christiansen, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume 13: Thames and Severn, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1981,
Raising the money
The raising of capital was slow, and after a brisk start, the financial position steadily deteriorated. Land was unobtainable for lack of finance, and progress slowed up. To save expense the company moved its office from London to Blakeney, and at the meeting there on 15 August 1858 it was reported that work had been suspended because many shareholders had not paid up their calls. In the following February the directors were able to obtain sufficient credit to permit Morris to resume work. During the session of 1860 the company applied for an extension of time until June 1862, which they received in the (23 & 24 Vict. c. cxcix), together with powers for the South Wales Railway to work the line when opened, and to make enhanced siding provision at Awre, where there was to be a junction with the SWR main line. The success of the South Wales Railway showed that onward transport of the mineral output from collieries on the Forest of Dean Central Railway might be by rail in preference to river movement.It is not clear from the sources whether a junction with the South Wales Railway was planned from the outset, or whether only river transport from Brimspill was intended at first.
The report of 21 February 1860 stated that the first instalment of the loan from the Crown—£3,333 6s 8d—had been received and that the engineer's report was encouraging. The contractor had been delayed in building the embankment at Nibley by difficulties over possession of land, but a bridge over a mill stream was almost completed, and this would enable him to go ahead with the embankment. Bad weather had also held up work, but the company now owned the land down to the Severn, and the building of the bridge over the South Wales main line could proceed. Of the portion from Awre to Moseley Green, nearly 3 miles had been executed to formation level, as well as a small portion of the Brimspill branch.
On 24 August 1860 the directors complained of large arrears on share calls, but the contract for rails and sleepers had been let and they declared that they anticipated an early opening. They had been "induced by the engineer" to substitute iron girders for timber in the bridges, and this would involve an additional £1,000. The formation of the Brimspill branch was completed from the South Wales line to the Severn and the bridge over the main line was in course of construction. The heaviest works were the Blakeney embankment and Gilbert's Hill rock cutting. Powers to construct the dock at Brimspill, and further sidings at Awre Junction were secured by the (24 & 25 Vict. c. clxxxiv).
By December 1861 the directors were impatiently suggesting opening as much of the line as was ready, working it with horses, and changing to locomotives as soon as traffic warranted. On 4 February 1862 the engineer reported that the whole of the formation was completed, with the exception of the self-acting incline at the staith at Brimspill.
In June 1862 the contractor Morris stopped work altogether, as the financial difficulty of the company had resulted in him not being paid. The directors implied that this was his fault: "The position taken by Mr Morris renders it necessary to postpone the financial arrangements which would enable the directors to complete and open the railway without delay". Work had not even started on constructing the Brimspill dock, so it was obvious that if the line were to be opened early, the only outlet for the traffic would be the South Wales line. W. G. Owen, the engineer of the South Wales Railway, was asked to advise on the most economical junction arrangements for a limited mineral traffic, with accommodation for 20 to 30 wagons and strong enough for heavy engines. He estimated the cost at £5,603, and advised the company to arrange for the SWR to work the traffic to begin with.