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.

The company's finances were dependent on the mineral industry of the Forest of Dean, and in 1879 economic difficulties caused it to amalgamate with the Severn Bridge Railway.

Further disappointing financial performance led to most of the passenger operation being discontinued in 1929, and after World War II inexorable decline in mineral extraction resulted in progressive closure of the network.

The established rights of the miners made the deployment of capital for large-scale development very difficult, and the interests of the Royal Navy also militated against modernisation.

In 1806 the engineer John Rennie surveyed and proposed a route, subsequently developed with branches into a network, of tramways in the Forest, but his schemes too ended without definite action being taken.

In fact in March 1870 a broad-gauge brake van was ordered by the S&WR, as it was considered unsafe to continue working mineral trains without one.

[1][5] From the 1840s mining activity developed in the ridge of terrain southwest of Cinderford and traffic was being lost to the South Wales Railway's Forest of Dean branch, even though the dock facility at Bullo, to which that line led, was inferior to that at Lydney.

The new line would require a level crossing where it met the broad gauge branch of the Forest of Dean Central Railway at New Fancy and a 503-yard (460 m) tunnel at Moseley Green.

In fact commissioning of the junction at Bilson was delayed until 15 September 1873, and the through east–west iron ore traffic which had been foreseen was not started until November 1875, probably due to difficulties in agreeing rates.

[10] Controlling loaded mineral trains at the junction was difficult; they generally had to reverse there, and there was no siding facility on the main line, and the gradients were steep.

The manoeuvre began by hauling the train back up the Lydbrook branch to Speculation Curve in order to get a run at the opposing gradient on the main line.

The driver then held the regulator wide open and stormed back down the branch, propelling the wagons for all he was worth past the sidings and onto the 1 in 40 bank on the main line.

As their van passed the signal box the two guards jumped off ready to pin down the wagon brakes to help hold the train on the gradient, and, the very instant the loco was clear of the points, the vigilant signalman set the road for Lydney.

Extension to Cinderford itself would have involved passenger trains negotiating the flat crossing of the Trafalgar Colliery Company's tramway, and the Board of Trade had evidently indicated that this would not be permitted without proper signalling safeguards.

To avoid that expense, the S&WR constructed a "drop platform" 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) beyond Drybrook Road, alongside the Bilson branch connection.

When the passenger services were extended to Cinderford (the Bilson Road station) the return journey past the junction was considerably longer.

A northwards spur at the Berkeley end would be built by the Midland Railway, giving that company direct access to the Forest network of the S&WR.

Notwithstanding its financial commitment to its own network extensions, the S&WR subscribed £25,000 to the Severn Bridge Company, and agreed to work the line when it was complete.

It was determined that the amalgamation would take place when the Severn Bridge Railway opened to traffic, and as that event drew near, an authorising Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 July 1879.

It formed an extension of the main line from Drybrook Road to a triangular junction with the GWR's Churchway branch at Laymoor to the northwest of Cinderford.

Following complaints from local people, the company responded by approaching the Board of Trade for permission to extend the passenger service to a temporary 'drop platform' approximately 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) nearer the town.

The intention was to build a permanent station at Bilson Junction itself, but the S&WR was unable to make arrangements to convey passengers across the tramway which would satisfy the Board of Trade.

Bilson Platform was opened for traffic on 1 September 1876 and was sanctioned by the Board of Trade for one year only, until a permanent station could be built and 'this exceptional method of working be done away with'.

There was a satisfactory level of passenger receipts shortly after opening, and the S&WR asked the Board of Trade in September 1878 for an extension of one further year; they said that the existing arrangements had proved sufficient for the traffic and they had not constructed the new station.

The decision to site the station no closer to the town than this was almost certainly dictated by the desire on the part of the S&WR not to incur the expense of crossing the Great Western's Churchway and Drybrook branches.

A further miners' strike from March 1883 had a heavy adverse effect on the company's finances, preventing it from paying debenture interest, and it was forced into administration.

The Mineral Loop was severed for a period to facilitate this, when from 1 April 1942 the Ministry of Works requisitioned Moseley Green Tunnel and the track was removed.

[16] In 1960 declining mineral business resulted in closure of the old main line north of Speech House Road, and also the connection to Lydney Lower Dock.

[8] Casserley, writing in 1968 said:[14] Practically all the lines in the Forest of Dean have been closed and abandoned, although the section from Lydney Junction to Parkend still has a daily goods [service], Mondays to Fridays in the summer of 1967, worked by a diesel hydraulic shunting locomotive of the D9500 class.

The Coleford branch and beyond to Whitecliff Quarries was also in occasional use.The section between Parkend and Lydney is now restored and operating as the Dean Forest Railway.