http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=7674

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=4455

Life was hard in the coal and iron fields , be that the Forest, Notts, Yorks, Staffs, Rhondda etc

I'm sure that a combination of Cart, Walking, Train, Boat would have been used to move North. I suspect the main incentive was a promise of work, eventually other friends or family may have gone ahead first.

As for those who moved across the Atlantic or Pacific - I have found evidence both in Census and newspares of Agents recruiting families and assisted passages.