Just to tie this up - I have now had a chance to see both of the books mentioned.

Info from Paar -

(My paraphrasing)..Tramways and railways arose from the need to transport goods in and out of the FoD. The Wye and Severn were already major thoroughfares and several railway companies were set up from 1809 to 1815, notably the Severn and Wye Railway and Canal Company (S & W). The first general meeting was held in Ross in June 1809 and a committee of management was set up - the committee referred to. The railway was to run between Lydbrook on the Wye, near Bishopswood, due south to Lydney on the Severn, with various tramroad offshoots to industrial sites.

Sheasby is Thomas Sheasby, a coal merchant from Swansea who was appointed by the committee in 1811 as manager, secretary, engineer and superintendent of works.

"The company soon decided upon a mile-long extension to Bishopswood, falling on reasonable gradients to the riverside, thus avoiding Lydbrook incline and serving Bishopswood ironworks. This was authorised by the Act of 1810, but in August the committee advised against it, finding 'no inducement'…Shortage of money for the extension, and the fact that Lydbrook was a well-established shipping place, compelled the building of the Lydbrook incline, although a 'horse road' was considered as an alternative.…...
In July 1812 barge owners from the Hereford trade urged completion of the ‘road to Bishopswood” but it was not until March 1814 that Sheasby acted accordingly.....

"There were many signs that traffic to the Wye was not flourishing. …. In 1820 the company was requested to raise and repair the tramroad where it crossed the turnpike near Bishopswood, which suggests that Bishopswood Wharf was little used, and in 1821 John Partridge, building a road to his new Bishopswood house, had the rails taken up near his gate and others substituted, 'better calculated for the road', without permission. The committee was unconcerned and only rebuked Partridge in 1823, after a row between his steward, Pewtner, and Sheasby. Clearly the tramroad to the Cinderhill Wharf was also disused, or nearly so.
In 1828 Partridge proposed that the tramroad to Cinderhill Wharf be removed and the tramroad turning off near Pewtner's garden to James Ward's house become the S & W line, Partridge allocating ground for a public wharf there. The company agreed without prejudice to its right to a wharf at Bishopswood.."

Info from Hart:

"On 23 October 1834, the Lydbrook Tinplate Works were put up for sale, the Particulars reading:

"The Extensive Iron and Tin Plate Works, freehold property for investment, singularly eligible for advantageous and safe investment, capable of making about 300 boxes of Tin Plates per week with one set of workmen only, and the produce may be doubled by employing a sufficient number of hands. They have been recently improved, and a considerable portion placed on an entirely new construction close to a capital rail road.
The great improvements in the making of iron lately introduced to the Forest of Dean will, it is hoped, in the event of their being satisfactorily brought to bear, add much by reducing the price of raw material, to the advantages which these works already possess, and under which they have carried out so beneficially for so many years past.
The property comprises: Steam Engine, Rolling Mills, Forges, Tin Houses, Blacksmiths' and Carpenters' Shops, with the Agent's House, Workmen's Cottages, Gardens, Stables and Warehouses, with the machinery belonging to the works, and the workmen's tools now in use, and castings, and the 27 acres of land held therewith, as the same are all now in the possession of Messrs Pearce & Allaway, as tenants thereof under a lease for the term of 14 years from 1 January 1823, at the yearly rent of £580.

"The proprietor was John Partridge, and viewing was to be done through 'Mr Pewtner of Bishopswood'.

"Whatever the result of the auction, the tenants in the period 1847 to 1849 were still Pearce & Allaway. William Allaway was in charge, assisted by his sons William and Stephen. By 1850 the name had changed to 'Allaways, Partridge & Co'..."

Joss