Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Junction Railway Dean Railway branch at Whimsey. The capital was £30,000 in £10 shares, and there were borrowing powers for £10,000. The GWR was authorised to subscribe up to half the capital. Five years were allowed for completion of the line; there was no mention of carrying passengers. The engineer's estimate for construction was £28,268, no stations being envisaged. The company was authorised to enter into agreements with the GWR for working and maintaining the line. By the time of the Act, the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway line was standard gauge but the Forest of Dean Railway branch was still broad
Forest of Dean Coalfield form of ownership and history, allowing freemining privileges to continue intact. Some large colliery gales were subsequently compulsorily purchased by the National Coal Board (NCB), but remained under the freemining system and a royalty was paid to the freeminers by the NCB as a share of the minerals extracted. In 1945 half the male population of the Forest were employed in coal mining. The last of the NCB gales closed in 1965, but freemining continues to be an important aspect of Forest of Dean culture and there are probably still around 150 freeminers, although only a handful of collieries are