Forest of Dean Railway 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 As motor bus services became dominant, the passenger services became unprofitable and they were withdrawn in 1958.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. 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
Forest of Dean Radio time were developed across the Forest of Dean District.In each setting 3 months of training and programme making with people of all ages and abilities would take place to really ground the locality of content and ownership. Small towns hosting their own stations included Lydney, Sedbury,Mitcheldean, Cinderford, Newent and Coleford. This community involvement bubbled toward the opportunity to broadcast across the whole area and become the first ever Community radio station to be awarded a full-time licence in the UK following a couple of years on air as an Ofcom pilot experiment which included 12 other community stations. At this