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 mined without substantial investment and the Crown became determined to introduce the free market into the Forest. The Mine Law Court was outlawed in 1777 and all its documents were confiscated by Crown Officials. A Royal Commission was appointed in 1831 to inquire into the nature of the mineral interests and freemining customs in the Forest of Dean, leading to the passing of the Dean Forest Mines Act 1838, which forms the basis of freemining law. It confirmed the freeminers' exclusive right to the minerals of the Forest of Dean, but also allowed freeminers to sell their gales to a