Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Junction Railway extraction industry in the Forest of Dean. The Monmouth and Hereford Railway was incorporated in 1845, but limited in scope by Parliament, and the powers were not exercised. However, in 1851 the "Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway" received its authorising Act of Parliament, and it opened a line on a similar alignment from Hereford to Grange Court on 1 June 1855. The GWR itself built the connecting section from Grange Court to Gloucester, and the South Wales Railway opened its line progressively from Grange Court to Chepstow. The South Wales Railway took over the "Forest of Dean Railway", successor to
Forest of Dean Central Railway of Great Britain should be "grouped" into four large companies, under the Railways Act 1921. The Great Western Railway absorbed many small networks in its area of influence, and the Forest of Dean Central Railway was absorbed by the GWR from 1 January 1923. No shareholders could be traced, and the line was gifted to the GWR; it had spent £141,000 on the line. During the Second World War, traffic was quite heavy because charcoal, a war material, was made in the Forest and there was a storage depot at Blakeney. After the war the traffic fell off and the