Forest of Dean Local History Society
OS Grid Reference: SO604100
The Bicslade (sic) Tramroad was a branch off the Severn and Wye Railway’s 3 ft 6 in. gauge tramroad from Lydney to Lydbrook, which opened in 1810. The 3/4-mile branch was built to serve collieries and stone quarries along Bixslade and had opened by June 1812. Horse-drawn 4-wheeled waggons were used for transporting coal and twin-bogie wagons for stone. After 1874, when the main tramroad was abandoned in favour of a standard-gauge line, traffic was transhipped to the latter at Bicslade Wharf, near Cannop Ponds. Traffic declined in the 20th century, the last load of stone being taken out on 25 July 1944 and coal traffic had ceased by November 1946. However, the short section between Cannop Stone Works and Bicslade Wharf remained in use into the 1950s. This was the last working tramroad in the Forest.