Dean Forest Railway

The last days of tracks on the wye valley railway are counted. But the retrieved materials will hopefully see new use in the extension.
https://www.dfrsociety.org.uk/post/wye-valley-clearance-work

 

Has all the track from Wye Valley Junction to Tidenham Tunnel now been removed?
I assume the track through the tunnel to the landslip quarry side has been left...

 

The track needs to be completely removed due to the planned cycle way.
https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/n...yclepath-and-walkway-on-disused-railway-line/

Virtually everything (also Tunnel and quarry) which is salvagable will probably rescued or be sent to the scrap merchant.
Here's the facebook group of the Dean Forest Railway Society. There you can follow any developments behind the scenes (unfortunately you won't find much of the trackbed clearing...).
https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/DFRSociety/

 

The DFR seems to have been hit by mindless trespassers who think that it's a smart idea to set fire to wagons!! The statement on their Facebook page reads as follows;

"DFR representatives and the fire service are currently on site at St Mary’s after a wagon was set on fire this afternoon. This is wrong on multiple levels, but especially given that this constitutes a major breach of lockdown and a waste of time for the emergency services. While this wagon was awaiting restoration, all of our items of rolling stock are valuable historic vehicles and vandalism is a criminal offence. Needless to say, trespass on any railway (including ours) is illegal and dangerous.

If you would like to help us, please consider donating to our Emergency Fund appeal: www.dfrsociety.org.uk/dfrs-emergency-fund

Also, if anyone has any information that would be useful in identifying the criminals responsible, please contact the police on the non-emergency number of 111. Our thanks go to our neighbours who reported this quickly so that further damage was prevented."

 

The dean forest railway society finally finished lifting the remains of track of the wye valley railway. So there are no tracks left there? In time of economical hardship and climate change it is really important to reuse more of our scarce resources.
https://www.dfrsociety.org.uk/wye-valley-track-recovery
Here one can find some pics of the new cycle rout on the former track: https://greenwaysandcycleroutes.org/wye-valley-greenway/

The society also received a riddle bucket donated by a generous company. With this they can recycle more of the old ballast.
https://www.dfrsociety.org.uk/post/dfr-gets-recycling-with-help-of-local-manufacturer

 

The Forest of Dean area will be in tier 4 from midnight. The DFR has therefore cancelled it's services for 31/12/20 and 1/1/21. <BJ>

 

5541 thrashing out of Norchard High Level with the 10:55 departure bound for Parkend yesterday morning.

 

Any news on the plans to extend to Speech House road?

 

Still working with ORR on crossing the road at Travellers Rest. Been going on a while now (a few years), see this dated 2017. The railway is preparing to be longer though and eventually run to Cinderford.

 

Wow Cinderford would be quite an extension, up through Serridge I guess and then round to the east?

How busy is the road at Travellers Rest (or is it now called The Woodman or something)?

From memory there are quite a few L/Cs in an around Lydney, 3 or 4 maybe: must take a lot of volunteers and scheduling!

 

Yes, it would be quite a nice trip to Cinderford! Here is the route.

It is quite a busy road I believe, one of the main roads through the forest nowadays.

The DFR in general has a lot of level crossings, each station has one! Lydney Jcn & St Marys (although the halt itself it now closed) are automatic barriers with Lydney Town, Whitecroft and Parkend all gated. Norchard too, but only for pedestrians!

 

Can I ask: Do DFR service trains run right down to Lydney junction, or if not, what is the southernmost station? I had been under the misapprehension that the line had not grown much in the past 30 years - clearly it has

 

Yes they run down to Lydney Junction Station.
Taken in 2018.

 

Thank you. My son is bizarrely not as fascinated with narrow gauge railways, and wants to visit a big railway.

 

I had not visited since the mid eighties until photo charters in 2015 and 2016, then visited in 2018 to travel the whole line. Worth a visit, they do not seem to get as much publicity as some lines. A new tea room was built at Norchard about 5 years ago which compares well with some of the larger lines.

 

Come to Toddington on a Sunday before the end of September and you can have both!

 

30 years ago right now the DFR didn't even cross the High Street in Lydney. The railway is totally different now.

September 1991 - trains were extended to Lydney Lakeside (later renamed St Marys Halt, closed around 2014)
1995 - trains extended to Lydney Junction
April 2001 - Lydney Town station re-opened
August 2001 - trains were extended to Tufts Jcn (mostly DMU shuttle apart from special occassions)
October 2003 - trains extended to Whitecroft (again mostly DMU shuttle, no station until May 2012)
2004 - Norchard High Level opens
December 2005 - trains extended to Parkend (DMU shuttle on post Christmas trains, steam began March 2006)

 

Interesting posts on the Official facbook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/DFRSociety/ about activity at Parkend to commision the Signal box and install signals.

 

Will all be operational when the railway reopens on 19th March.