The Dean Forest Railway is a long

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

that runs between

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 1995 ...

and

Parkend Parkend is a village, located at the foot of the Cannop Valley, in the Royal Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England, and has a history dating back to the early 17th century. During the 19th century it was a busy industrial village with se ...

in the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. The route was part of the former

Severn and Wye Railway The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and open ...

which ran from

Cinderford Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census. The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of Cind ...

. The society that operates the line started

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

operations in 1971, and bought the trackbed and line from

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in 1986, reaching Lydney Junction in 1995 and Parkend in 2005. Trains are operated by both steam and heritage

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s, and heritage

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s. The Dean Forest Railway has been given the former Griffithstown Station building. Its removal was completed in June 2016, and is expected to be placed at the new upcoming Speech House Road.

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

are now providing a combined fare for travel to Lydney mainline station (on CrossCountry services only) and then onto the Dean Forest Railway. The Dean Forest Railway plans to extend its heritage services a further through/into the middle of the Royal Forest at Speech House Road (close to the nearby Beechenhurst Visitor Attraction), bringing the line to a total of about in length. In 2016, DFR's director of civil engineering and director of development Jason Shirley announced plans to expand the railway to

. The project's status as a strategic regional development means that a large proportion of the estimated £8million cost could be met by Government funding.

Stations and Junctions of the DFR

* Lydney Junction (Terminus) * St Mary's Halt (now closed, yet still in place). * Lydney Town *

Middle Forge Junction Middle Forge Junction is an important junction on the Dean Forest Railway. History The junction is where the Lydney to Parkend (High Level) and Lydney to Norchard (Low Level) lines meet. The name Middle Forge was chosen because the juncti ...

– Line splits into High and Low Levels. No Station. ** Norchard Low Level (Terminus) - includes a railway museum and shop * Norchard High Level - ramp and steps from Norchard Low Level * Tufts Junction – Historic junction with disused mineral loop and freight branch. No Station. *

Whitecroft Whitecroft is a village in the Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire, England. It is located in-between Bream and Yorkley. Whitecroft comes under the postal district of Lydney. The village has 2 pubs – The Miners Arms and The Royal Oak. ...

(Current Terminus)

Proposed future extension

*Coleford Junction Halt *Bicslade Wharf * Speech House Road *

Locomotives

Image:1450 at Oakenwood.jpg, 1450 passes through Oakenwood, just north of Whitecroft. Image:9681 South of Parkend Dean Forest Railway.JPG, 9681 hauling goods into Parkend. Image:1450 as 1401 Dean Forest Railway.jpg, 1450 masquerading as 1401 as part of DFR's Titfield Thunderbolt Weekend.

Steam

Diesel and electric

Former Steam Locomotives

Visiting Steam Locomotives

Former Diesel Locomotives

Visiting Diesel Locomotives and Multiple units

For the 2001 diesel gala a number of diesel were display at Lydney Junction. These were 37029,37308,37906, D172, 47306, 56111, 60081, 66250 and 66524.

Coaches

The main running set is a mix of BR Mark 1 and 2 stock. Two Mark 2 carriages were purchased by the DFR Society in 2018 so that the Mark 1s could be overhauled. In early 2020, all the Mark 1 and 2s were transferred ownership from the Forest of Dean Railway limited company to the DFR society, including XP64 number 4729.

Great Western Railway coaching stock

British Railways coaching stock

Ex coaching stock

Coach type codes * BCK – Brake Composite Corridor * BSK –

Brake Standard Corridor The Second Corridor (previously Third Corridor) type of Passenger car (rail), railway carriage was one of the standard mid-20th century designs, and was coded SK (previously TK) by the LNER and BR, and CF by the LMS. The layout of the coach w ...

* BSOT – Brake Standard Open (Micro-Buffet) * RMB –

Restaurant Miniature Buffet The Restaurant Miniature Buffet (or RMB) is a British Railways Mark 1 railway coach. It is a Tourist Standard Open (TSO) coach with two full seating bays next to the centre transverse vestibule removed and replaced with a buffet counter and custo ...

* CK –

Composite Corridor The Composite Corridor (or CK) is a railway coach with a number of compartments, some of which are standard class (previously second, né third class) and some first class, linked by a side corridor. History The composite coach was a standar ...

* SK –

Standard Corridor The Second Corridor (previously Third Corridor) type of railway carriage was one of the standard mid-20th century designs, and was coded SK (previously TK) by the LNER and BR, and CF by the LMS. The layout of the coach was a number of compart ...

* TK –

* TSO –

Tourist Standard Open Tourist Second Open or Tourist Standard Open, abbreviated to TSO, is a type of British Railways coach. The designation "Tourist" was originally as opposed to a normal SO ( Second Open) coach. Both types have the same number of seating bays per ...

* BG – Brake Gangwayed

Wagons

There are lots different types of wagons at the DFR. Some are used for display and other for engineering works. Many of the wagons can be seen in sidings along the line. Sometime the DFR runs ride on fright trains where passenger can ride on the brakevans.

Brakevans

References

External links

Dean Forest Railway Website

Historical site

Dean Forest Diesel Association

Dean Forest Railway Society Website
{{authority control Heritage railways in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean Museums in Gloucestershire Railway museums in England Standard gauge railways in England 7 ft gauge railways