Coleford railway museum

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Coleford railway museum by John Winder as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Coleford railway museum

Image: © John Winder Taken: 5 Oct 2019

Based in the former Great Western Railway goods shed, which was on the point of falling down in the mid 1970s until rescued by a local railwayman called Mike Rees, who opened the railway museum here. At one time, Coleford featured two railway stations, the GWR station on the line from Monmouth (closed in 1917, apart from a short stub from Whitecliff Quarry, which remained until 1967) and the Severn & Wye Joint Railway terminus on the line from Parkend, which lost its passenger service in 1929. The two were not connected directly until 1951, despite the GWR being part owners of the S&WJR, and despite the S&WJR line being used from 1917 by the GWR for access to Coleford and Whitecliff Quarry. This is by far the most important railway building remaining in the Forest of Dean, and is the only railway remnant on the site of Coleford's two stations. It's marooned in a sea of car parks and modern parades of shops these days, but is still worth a visit for any rail enthusiasts.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0