DEAN FOREST RAILWAY
As the Dean Forest clocks up 50 years, TOBY JENNINGS reveals its ambitious plans for the future.
What next for the ‘Forest Line’?
We make no apologies for reusing an old headline from over 30 years ago – for it’s as true now as it was then. Back in 1987, the Dean Forest Railway was one of the movement’s up-and-coming preserved lines – poised to break out of the confines of its steam centre at Norchard and take over the mothballed LydneyParkend line, with grandiose plans for carrying coal as well as tourist traffic, and running then-resident Pitchford Hall on the main line.
Three decades on, although the latter two ideas never came to fruition, it’s successfully achieved its main aim of those days, having reopened the line through to Lydney Junction in 1995 and reaching Parkend 11 years later.
Since then, however, it’s largely slipped from the enthusiast radar, save for the odd visiting guest engine, and the regular publication of glinting master shots from photographic charters with its stalwart ‘Small Prairie’ No. 5541 and pannier tank No. 9681. It’s one of those seemingly permanent fixtures in preservation that we more or less take for granted; getting on with its job of running trains and recreating its chosen period, and doing it well, but without making the headlines.
Not anymore. Once again, the ‘Friendly Forest Line’ has big plans for the future. Once again, something is stirring in the forest, as it prepares to expand beyond its current confines and embark on one of the more ambitious extension projects to be found in preservation today.
THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT
Cinderford is the ultimate destination on the DFR’s horizon – the town where, 50 years ago, on February 21 1970, the Dean Forest Railway Society was formed at the Swan Hotel, with the aim of reviving part of the forest’s lost Severn & Wye Railway network.
Less than two years later, the group held its first open day at Parkend on October 23 1971, with Peckett 0-4-0ST Uskmouth 1 giving brake van rides over just 200 feet of siding – earning the DFRS the unenviable label of ‘the shortest steam-hauled passenger journey in the world’.
In stark contrast, reaching Cinderford would not only make the DFR one of preservation’s longer lines, at 11 miles in total, but one of its steepest, with a 1-in-40 bank that would provide a visual and aural delight for future enthusiasts.
Attractive proposition that this is, though, and appropriate though it may be that the society is setting its sights on the location where it all began, why are they doing it – and how? To find out, Steam Railway spoke to the railway’s development director Adam Dickinson and DFR Society chairman Alastair Clarke.
CELEBRATIONS POSTPONED
The railway had hoped to celebrate its 50th anniversary year in style, planning not only a series of commemorative events, but the launch of major development projects at Lydney Junction and Whitecroft – both of which, as we shall see, are integral to the northern extension scheme.
But like everything else in preservation, all of it has currently been put on hold while the railway concentrates on surviving the coronavirus outbreak; the DFR Society, the line’s supporting volunteer organisation and a registered charity, has launched a 50th anniversary emergency appeal with the aim of raising £50,000 to help the railway ride out the storm (see panel).
Says Alastair: “Luckily, the railway was founded in 1970, but our first trains ran in 1971, so we may be able to postpone our celebrations until 2021 with some justification!” However, echoing the words of other preservationists, he adds: “The situation is unprecedented and a real threat to us. Support through this appeal is vital to making sure we’re still here this time next year.
“Over recent months, we have been gearing up to announce support for exciting new development plans, but these plans will never see the light of day if the railway succumbs to this testing period.”
So, without further ado: what are those exciting plans? What can we expect to see at the DFR in years to come, provided it pulls through the Covid-19 lockdown?
RAIL RECYCLING
It was more than a little ironic that, exactly 50 years after they set out to save one local branch line, members of the DFR Society began 2020 by setting out to rip up the track of another.
But this apparent destruction is vital to the DFR’s northern extension. As detailed in SR490, Network Rail has generously donated around three miles of disused track to the preserved railway, from the nearby freight-only line to Tintern Quarry and the branch to the former MoD Royal Ordnance Factory at Glascoed (now used by BAe Systems) off the Newport-Hereford line.
The Tintern Quarry branch is the remaining stub of the Wye Valley route from Chepstow to Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye, which closed to passengers in 1959 – the last train, on January 4 that year, being a Stephenson Locomotive Society railtour with two ‘64XX’ pannier tanks, Nos. 6412 and 6439, in top-and-tail formation.
With No. 6412 in preservation at the South Devon Railway, it’s entirely possible that it could run over Wye Valley metals again one day – for this line’s track, together with that from Glascoed, should be sufficient to complete the first stage of the DFR’s extension, to Speech House Road.
Situated two and a half miles north of Parkend, and thus making the DFR seven miles long, this location would place it in a prime position close to one of the forest’s tourist spots – Beechenhurst, the starting point for its Sculpture Trail, and home to a café and adventure parks.
Rather than using the site of the original Speech House Road station (see map), the DFR plans to construct its new terminus 820 yards further to the north, on the site of Wimberry Junction – formerly the junction for the Wimberry Tramroad and exchange sidings for Wimberry Colliery.
The reasons for this are twofold; firstly, that the original station was sited where the line meets the B4226 road, and Gloucestershire Highways has requested that the railway now crosses this by means of an overbridge rather than a level crossing, making it unsuitable for a station. More importantly, however, the new site lies directly between Beechenhurst and another popular tourist attraction, cycle hire centre Pedalabikeaway. With Forestry England (formerly
the Forestry Commission) keen to reduce road traffic in the forest, Adam Dickinson describes this as “a useful benefit to all parties”.
CLEAR ROAD AHEAD?
With the railway company (Forest of Dean Railway Ltd) having purchased the trackbed between Lydney Junction and Whitecroft from BR in 1986, and leasing the remainder to Parkend, Adam explains: “The vast majority of the trackbed beyond Parkend would be an extension of our lease from Forestry England, with a small amount owned by the district council, both of which are very supportive of our plans.”
Although most of the extension to Speech House Road, and indeed Cinderford, is currently used by cyclists, the railway does not foresee any problems here either. Says Adam: “We’re looking into an alternative route for the cycle track in the vicinity of the current one, and Forestry England is happy to discuss the details in due course.
“The trackbed is in very good condition. We’ll have to do a full assessment of culverts, but on a visual inspection we didn’t find anything we can’t deal with.”
Both Adam, and the railway’s filming and press officer Rob Harris, stressed that realistically, Cinderford is considered a very long-term target, and a full engineering and economic feasibility study is yet to be completed. Says Adam: “Cinderford has been an informal aspiration for a long time, with the definite target of extending to Speech House Road.”
However, he adds, there’s no physical barrier to it happening: “The trackbed is clear as far as Cinderford and in regular use as a cycle track, though unfortunately the original station site has been lost to housing. Once we’ve determined the feasibility of the further extension, we’ll be in discussions to confirm a new site for Cinderford station, as there are a number of options.
“Cinderford would effectively ‘complete’ the branch line, but we’re concentrating on the first phase – design, approval and construction of the road crossings north of our current railhead at Parkend.”
Here, the DFR needs to cross the B4234 twice, on Cannop Road and Fancy Road; the former can be done via a replacement road-over-rail bridge, albeit with the road alignment slightly amended, but the latter will require that rare thing in preservation – a new level crossing.
As Adam dryly puts it, the requirements for such a thing in 2020 are very different from those in the days when the original ‘Traveller’s Rest Crossing’ was built, when the railway was in place before a formal road crossing. The DFR is now in the process of drawing up a proposal for submission to the Office of Rail and Road, which if endorsed, will then form a key part of the Transport & Works Act Order needed to build the extension itself.
How quickly progress can be made on this, or the construction of the extension, depends entirely on funding, says Adam – and therefore in turn on how the coronavirus situation develops.
“Some rough estimates were produced some time ago,” he says, “but recent efforts have been concentrated on the road crossings. Once we’re in a good position with them, we’ll look again at the costs of the complete extension, and the likely phases we’d break it down into.”
Depending on how the work is phased, he adds, and again on the progress of fundraising, the railway is also looking into the possibility of a temporary ‘Corwen
East-style’ halt to serve another local tourist spot – Cannop Ponds – while work continues on the remainder of the extension to Speech House Road.
SALVAGE SQUAD
Not only does the DFR have the track earmarked for the Speech House Road section of the new line, it has already obtained the station building for the planned terminus – and in much the same fashion.
In the earlier years of preservation, it was commonplace for steam railways to save not only engines and rolling stock from scrap, but buildings from demolition. It was all in a day’s work to dismantle a station building brick-by-brick, or move a signal box in one piece on the back of a lorry, before finding it a useful new role on a preserved line that was being rebuilt from the ground up.
In more recent years, however, such salvage efforts have become much rarer – but the DFR is one of the exceptions.
In 2016, a team of its volunteers recovered the GWR station building from Panteg & Griffithstown, on the former Eastern Valleys line from Newport to Blaenavon, which last hosted passengers in 1962. Carefully dismantling the sturdy limestone structure was a slow and difficult process, but the reward, it’s proposed, will be a re-creation of a typical 1930s GWR country station at Speech House Road.
In the spirit of offering a ‘journey back in time’, the DFR has also set out its plans to develop and enhance the other stations along its line.
JOINT LINE…
Far from being ‘just another GWR branch line’, the DFR is a railway with a complex and fascinating history. Originally constructed by the Severn & Wye Railway & Canal Company as a 3ft 6in gauge horse-drawn tramway in 1810, it was later converted to broad gauge
in 1868 and then standard gauge in 1872, before the Severn & Wye company went bankrupt in 1894. It was then bought out, and jointly operated, by the GWR and Midland Railway – and while the DFR already remembers that joint history with such details as GWR and LMS station signs, it plans to go much further…
One of the key developments needed before it sets out on the northern extension is the development of Whitecroft station, with the addition of a second platform, waiting shelter and passing loop – for it is anticipated that this will become a principal crossing point for trains when Speech House Road opens. Also proposed is the reinstatement of the station’s original second loop behind the Down platform, to store the line’s growing fleet of restored wagons and provide flexibility for special events.
To control all this, and its new signalling, the railway has recovered another appropriate structure – a Midland Railway signal box from Pirton Sidings, near Abbotswood Junction where the Worcester line diverges from the Bristol-Birmingham main line. The intention is to restore the box, and the whole station, to reflect a joint GWR/LMS station in the 1920s, before passenger services north of Lydney Town ceased in 1929.
Says Adam: “Based on our research, the colour scheme for this period must have been quite a sight – lemon chrome and Venetian red for the signals and signal box, with platform benches in chocolate with an ultramarine blue name panel lined in white.
“The Midland Railway assumed responsibility in the area after 1906, so while somewhat different to the current colour scheme, it does have precedent, as well as providing interest for a station which will become increasingly important in the years to come.”
Whitecroft, like Parkend, is currently decked out in Severn & Wye Railway colours, but this original guise will be retained at the latter station – where a re-signalling scheme is at an advanced stage and, it is hoped, could be fully operational next year. This, too, has been designed as a future passing place with the extension in mind.
…JOINED-UP THINKING
But before Whitecroft can become a crossing point, another piece of the jigsaw must be slotted into place – at the opposite end of the line, Lydney Junction. Here, the DFR is drawing up detailed plans, and calculating the costs, of a carriage shed, which will be followed by a restoration shed. (Incidentally, although these will be new buildings, the original plan had been to relocate another steam-era structure for this role – the timber Midland Railway goods shed from Cheltenham – before it sadly burned down in 2003 following a suspected arson attack).
Why is a carriage shed so important to developing a station more than three miles away? Because, Adam explains, rolling stock is currently stored on what will become Whitecroft’s passing loop: “The need for operational space at Norchard has forced us to look elsewhere on the railway for short-term storage of stock awaiting work. The coaches have been secured and sheeted over to reduce deterioration.”
Lydney Junction – also home to the DFR’s diesel depot – is to be restored to represent the 1960s steamto-diesel transition era, the signal box retaining its London Midland Region colour scheme to represent the line’s joint history; while Lydney Town station, reopened in 2001, will represent the 1950s with the
BR Western Region colour scheme. Between the two, St Mary’s Halt boasts an original Severn & Wye Railway footbridge, whose restoration last year earned the DFR a ‘highly commended award’ in the National Railway Heritage Awards. The Grade II-listed bridge, dating from 1892, is one of only two original Severn & Wye Railway structures still standing on the DFR, the other being Parkend goods shed. Though no longer used by timetabled trains, being so close to the Town and Junction stations, St Mary’s Halt is maintained by a ‘Friends’ group for its occasional special event use, such as Christmas carol services at nearby St Mary’s Church.
North of Lydney Town, the other major enhancement that the DFR wishes to make is the addition of another signal box at Middle Forge Junction, where the ‘high level’ line to Parkend diverges from the ‘low level’ line into its Norchard headquarters. This would eliminate the time-consuming operation whereby, at present, train crews have to stop and operate a ground frame to set the desired route.
PANNIER POWER
So much for the authentic period stage – what of the cast? In terms of ex-main line engines, the DFR boasts a relatively small collection – but one of the most appropriate to its location in preservation.
Pannier tanks were the staple motive power on the Forest’s by-ways until the end of Western Region steam, backed up by ‘Small Prairies’, and the same is true today. Backbone of the motive power fleet since the 1970s, and currently in service, is ‘4575’ 2-6-2T No. 5541, while its fellow stalwart is ‘8750’ 0-6-0PT No. 9681, currently under overhaul with a return to steam anticipated next year.
Both are owned by the Dean Forest Locomotive Group, formed in 2015 by merging the engines’ original owning groups, the Forest Prairie and Forest Pannier Funds. In 2018, the new entity added a third locomotive to its collection, acquiring consecutively numbered pannier No. 9682 from the Southall-based GWR Preservation Group. Once No. 9681 is outshopped, the intention is for its classmate to follow it through the works, with a view to having it ready to take No. 5541’s place when the latter comes out of traffic.
Also currently under overhaul is the railway’s first working steam locomotive, Peckett 0-4-0ST Uskmouth 1, for which the DFR Society is raising funds – the aim being to return it to steam by late 2021, in time for the 50th anniversary of those first short shuttle runs at Parkend.
As closely associated with the preserved DFR as Nos. 5541 and 9681, but for different reasons, is Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Works No. 3806 ‘Wilbert’ – so named by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry himself in 1987. The railway is considering the 1953-built locomotive’s place in the overhaul queue, says Adam: “There has been a noticeable downturn in the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ market recently, but we do know ‘Wilbert’ does still have a large fan base.”
Currently flying the ‘Austerity’ flag at the
DFR is privately owned RSH-built example
No. WD152 Rennes, which has proved popular in its colourful Longmoor Military Railway blue livery. The stocklist (see panel) also includes a historic example – No. 65, the penultimate member of the class to be built – and with this extensive home fleet, Adam considers the railway to have matters well in hand when it comes to the future motive power needs of the extension.
“We’d be happy to talk to locomotive owners or groups,” he says, “but our focus is on supporting the home fleet.”
DELIVERING THE GOODS
In anticipation of the extension, the DFR Society has recently completed the purchase of two BR Mk 2 Tourist Second Open coaches, having raised over £45,000 to buy them and convert one from air to vacuum braking.
With eight Mk 1s (four TSOs, a buffet and three brakes) in the society’s ownership, says Adam, this “should be sufficient for the extension, once the coaches currently stored have returned to traffic. We’re anticipating developing the fleet in due course, but we’re focusing on the overhaul of our existing coaches in the short term.”
BR maroon has now been adopted as the principal ‘house livery’ for the line’s coaching stock, instead of chocolate and cream – the former being considered more appropriate for a branch line than the latter, which was largely reserved for prestige Western Region expresses.
In a longer term project, a GWR branch train is in prospect, with the donation by Bill Parker in 2016 of a rare Collett Brake Composite Corridor coach, No. 7362, to the Dean Forest Locomotive Group. Says Adam: “The DFLG has been collecting the missing parts as they become available, so when the restoration is started in earnest, it can hit the ground running, though no formal date has been set for this yet.” It will eventually be paired with the group’s Collett Third Corridor No. 5813, currently serving as its fundraising shop at Norchard.
But it is the freight stock for which the DFR has perhaps the most interesting plans. Unlike many railways, which regard a BR ‘Dogfish’ ballast hopper wagon as nothing more than a piece of engineering plant, the DFR is fully restoring its fleet of 12 examples, repainting them in 1950s black livery with appropriate local inscriptions such as ‘Return to Whitecliff Quarry’.
For stone and ballast were among the staple traffic flows out of the forest in steam days, along with coal, and the DFR has not forgotten the latter part of its history either. A private owner wagon is being restored for display as an eye-catching ‘gate guardian’ at Parkend – but, says Adam, has inspired the line to plan a working rake of such vehicles as well, including something relatively rare in preservation freights: tankers.
The last private owner wagons to be seen in the forest were the bitumen tankers of Berry Wiggins, which ran to Whimsey, north of Cinderford, until 1967 – and the DFR hopes to restore at least two, and possibly more, such wagons for its goods train.
Says Adam: “The sight of Berry Wiggins tankers behind a black pannier tank is an iconic image for the Forest of Dean. A ‘typical’ goods train in the forest was a couple of mineral wagons, a couple of tankers, and five to ten ballast hoppers, so that’s our inspiration.”
THAT’S THE SPIRIT
Beyond the permanent way and the rolling hardware, many steam railways have thankfully preserved some things that are less tangible, but no less important in recreating a bygone age. The atmosphere, the feel – the very essence of their line, or the lost ones in the surrounding area. The DFR does a fine job of this; in spite of its extensions and development so far, it’s managed to retain the rustic charm that characterised the forest’s half-forgotten and freight-only byways right up to the final years of steam.
But it also seems to retain another intangible thing that some railways have long since, and perhaps inevitably, left behind. A pioneering spirit.
A spirit that inspires volunteers to roll their sleeves up and re-lay sleepers and rails on a long-empty trackbed, or rescue a neglected station building from destruction. A spirit in which a decrepit coach or wagon is still seen as an opportunity for an authentic re-creation, rather than junk. A spirit that can drive a railway forward – but without forsaking the history that it is trying to preserve.
If that spirit endures, and provided it can emerge unscathed on the other side of the coronavirus crisis, the DFR could be a railway to watch in years to come.