Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Junction Railway Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Junction Railway The Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway was an independent railway company incorporated in 1871, to provide a northerly outlet for iron ore and coal products from the Cinderford and Whimsey area in the Forest of Dean, to the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway line; mineral traffic to industrial centres in South Wales and the Midlands was foreseen. The company ran out of money during construction, and the Great Western Railway purchased it and completed the line about 1882. By then the intended mineral flows were being adequately handled on
Forest of Dean Miners' Association (AAM) in 1872, but the AAM refused strike pay to local miners during a long dispute from 1874 to 1875, and so the union left and again became independent. This dispute was less successful, with only a concession of wage being reduced by 5% instead of 10%. From 1873 to 1877, the union published a weekly newspaper, the "Forest of Dean Examiner". In 1877, the general secretary, Timothy Mountjoy, was discharged, and the union became moribund until 1882, when it was reconstituted. The union later joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and from 1894 until 1904, it participated in