Forest of Dean Railways and Tramways

[richard thompson]

Very complex history in the Forest! Could spend hours looking into it. Richard

[RogerFarnworth]

Yes, we really enjoy every visit, sadly we get there no more than once a year.

[RogerFarnworth]

A recent visit to the Forest of Dean promoted some reading and reflection on Cannop Colliery. This post is the result of those reflections:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/08/31/cannop-colliery

My wife and I were in the Forest of Dean on 30th August 2018 and visited a small garden centre that we have been to many times before - the Pigmy Pymetum. Later in the day I was reading an older copy of "The New Regard" - Number 23 from 2009. The first article in that edition of the magazine was about Cannop Colliery and was written by Ian Pope. The colliery was just north of the location of the garden centre.

[RogerFarnworth]

Recently, I have begun researching some of the tramways/tramroads in the valleys of South Wales. The first of these that I looked at was the Penydarren Tramroad.

While I was looking at the website of the Industrial Railway Society (https://www.irsociety.co.uk) I came across a story which related to the Forest if Dean and, in particular, the Severn & Wye Railway & Canal Company.

The link below highlights the story of what appears to have been the research necessary before purchasing the first steam locomotive the Forest of Dean. It also pints to what could have been a far earlier introduction of steam traction into the Forest.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/02/08...nd-wye-tramway

[RogerFarnworth]

The industrial history of the Forest of Dean is such that the intensity of activity was high throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Innovation was rife and nowhere was this more true than in its transport infrastructure.

In, what history will ultimately regard as, a very short period of time, tramroads were built and became the dominant form of transport. They waned and were replaced by broad gauge railways which in turn lost out to what was the dominant but probably inferior standard-gauge. For a time, all were active in the Forest at once. ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/09/15...forest-of-dean

[RogerFarnworth]

My wife and I stay in the Forest of Dean most years. September 2019 was no exception. We stayed in a cottage close to what were Cannop and Speech House Collieries which were both rail served when they were active collieries. I have already posted about Cannop Colliery as part of this series of posts. It seems appropriate that I post something about Speech House Colliery.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/09/14...ry-and-railway

[RogerFarnworth]

Another Forest of Dean Colliery. .... Flour Mill Colliery. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2017/09/30...-mill-colliery

[RogerFarnworth]

Trafalgar Colliery - I have enjoyed reviewing the available documentation about Trafalgar Colliery in the Forest of Dean. I hope this post is of interest.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/09/24...ry-and-railway

[RogerFarnworth]

I have recently encountered two small books, both of which are facsimile editions of much older books. The first is a 19th century guide to the Forest of Dean for early holiday makers. The second provides a guide to the various coal mines in the Forest. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/10/05...forest-of-dean

[RogerFarnworth]

The Bream Heritage Walk, the Oakwood Tramway and The Flour Mill Ltd

The Forest of Dean continues to be one of my favourites places. In 2020 we, once again, stayed there in the first week of September.

This post returns to two earlier themes from the Forest.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/09/04...-mill-colliery

On 1st September 2020 we followed a sign-posted circular walk which started in the centre of the village of Bream on the Southwest side of the Forest. The route was planned with the support of the Big Lottery Heritage Fund and featured a series of different heritage locations around the village. ............. The walk took us first along the route of the China Bottom Branch of the Oakwood Tramway which was covered in an earlier post about the tramways in the Forest (http://rogerfarnworth.com/2017/10/02...dikes-tramways).