Eaton Hall Railway
Encyclopedia
The Eaton Hall Railway was an early gauge narrow gauge estate railway built in 1896 at Eaton Hall
in Cheshire
.
It was built for the Duke of Westminster
by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood
, who had pioneered the fifteen inch (381 mm) gauge with his Duffield Bank Railway
, and connected the hall to the GWR
station sidings at Balderton
on their Shrewsbury to Chester Line
, some 3 miles (4.8 km) away.
The track was steel flat-bottomed rail of 16.5 lb/yd, attached by spring clips to cast iron
sleepers
, 3 foot (0.9144 m) long and 6.5 inches (165 mm) wide, spaced at 2 in 3 in (0.6858 m) centres. Pointwork was prepared at the workshop in Duffield (for which Heywood charged £7/15s/0d [£7.75] each), and carried to site. The maximum gradient was 1 in 70 (1.43%), Eaton Hall being 51 feet (15.5 m) above the sidings at Balderton.
For much of its length it followed the main driveway and crossed the park, including the major driveways. Therefore the line had to be as unobtrusive as possible and was laid level with the ground with a central drainage pipe beneath. The ballast was red furnace cinder, 5 to 6 in (127 to 152.4 mm) deep and 4 feet (122 cm) wide. On leaving the park the line was embanked. The line was not fenced - where it crossed between fields it was carried on girders over a deep ditch to prevent cattle straying.
There were bridges over one or two streams, the longest being 28 feet (8.5 m), but it crossed roadways on the level, at one point the main Wrexham
to Chester
road. Although Heywood had obtained wayleave , it could only be a temporary arrangement, since, for a private railway, the council was not able to enter in an agreement which bound its successors. Heywood therefore campaigned for a clause in the proposed Light Railway Bill
which would allow permission for public road crossings to be granted in perpetuity.
T with Brown/Heywood valvegear (it had originally been intended to fit Stephenson/Howe valvegear). Following this were two identical 0-6-0
T locomotives, "Shelagh" and "Ursula". Further details are given below. Katie proved capable of handling up to 40 LT (40.6 t; 44.8 ST) on the level, or 20 LT (20.3 t; 22.4 ST) on the gradient, at a speed of around 10 mi/h. Under test, 20 mi/h was achieved in safety.
All rolling stock was built to negotiate curves of 25 feet (7.62 m)
minimum radius
. Self-acting coupler-buffers were fitted and measures were taken to ensure interchangeability of parts.
Thirty open waggons and a 4 wheeled brake van
were initially provided each wagon carrying about 16 long cwt (813 kg) of coal
or 22 long cwt (1,118 kg) of brick
s. The wagon 'tops' were removable to allow them to be used as flats
, and bolster fittings were supplied to carry long items such as timber. An open 16 seat bogie
coach, a bogie parcel van (for 'game') and a small open 4 wheeled brake 'van' were also provided at the opening. Finally, a closed bogie passenger vehicle some 20 feet (6.1 m) long seating 12 people inside and four outside and a bogie brake van seating four inside and four outside were supplied after opening. Other wagons were constructed by the Eaton Estate and rebuilt over the years.
, timber
, road metal and brick
s. To Heywood's mind it was the ideal application for this gauge of railway.
The Eaton Hall railway closed in 1946 and was lifted in 1947 .
A new 15 inches (381 mm) railway, named the Eaton Park Railway was built in 1994 with a replica of Katie. It is not available for use by the public except on the various garden open days. The new line consists of a large loop with a spur leading to the engine shed. The latter follows a small part of the original route.
The original Katie was sold to the newly-built Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
and then in 1922 to the Llewellyn Miniature Railway in Southport
. In 1923 she was sold to the Fairbourne Miniature Railway
where she operated trains until scrapping in 1926. Parts of the original are currently back at Ravenglass being rebuilt using the original frames and various parts from other Heywood locomotives, while a replica is being constructed by the Perrygrove Railway
in Gloucestershire
which was built with Sir Arthur's work very much in mind.
Eaton Hall (Cheshire)
Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is set within a large estate south of the village of Eccleston, in Cheshire, England . The house is surrounded by formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers an area of about .The first substantial house was...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
.
It was built for the Duke of Westminster
Duke of Westminster
The title Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. The current holder of the title is Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster....
by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood
Arthur Percival Heywood
Sir Arthur Percival Heywood, 3rd Baronet was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Percival Heywood. He grew up in the family home of Dove Leys at Denstone in Staffordshire.- Early life :...
, who had pioneered the fifteen inch (381 mm) gauge with his Duffield Bank Railway
Duffield Bank Railway
The Duffield Bank Railway was built by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood in the grounds of his house on the hillside overlooking Duffield, Derbyshire in 1874. Although the Ordnance Survey map circa 1880 does not show the railway itself, it does show two tunnels and two signal posts.-Overview:It was more...
, and connected the hall to the GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
station sidings at Balderton
Balderton, Cheshire
Balderton is a village in Cheshire, England.Nearby is Eaton Hall from where the one of the first 15 inch gauge railways ran to the goods yard of the GWR railway station. Both of these have closed....
on their Shrewsbury to Chester Line
Shrewsbury to Chester Line
The Shrewsbury to Chester Line, also known as the Severn–Dee Line , was built in 1846 as the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway...
, some 3 miles (4.8 km) away.
Laying the line
The total length of the line was four and a half miles (7.2 km), with the addition of several branches including one long one to the brick store and estate workshop at Cuckoo's Nest.The track was steel flat-bottomed rail of 16.5 lb/yd, attached by spring clips to cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
, 3 foot (0.9144 m) long and 6.5 inches (165 mm) wide, spaced at 2 in 3 in (0.6858 m) centres. Pointwork was prepared at the workshop in Duffield (for which Heywood charged £7/15s/0d [£7.75] each), and carried to site. The maximum gradient was 1 in 70 (1.43%), Eaton Hall being 51 feet (15.5 m) above the sidings at Balderton.
For much of its length it followed the main driveway and crossed the park, including the major driveways. Therefore the line had to be as unobtrusive as possible and was laid level with the ground with a central drainage pipe beneath. The ballast was red furnace cinder, 5 to 6 in (127 to 152.4 mm) deep and 4 feet (122 cm) wide. On leaving the park the line was embanked. The line was not fenced - where it crossed between fields it was carried on girders over a deep ditch to prevent cattle straying.
There were bridges over one or two streams, the longest being 28 feet (8.5 m), but it crossed roadways on the level, at one point the main Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
to Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
road. Although Heywood had obtained wayleave , it could only be a temporary arrangement, since, for a private railway, the council was not able to enter in an agreement which bound its successors. Heywood therefore campaigned for a clause in the proposed Light Railway Bill
Light Railways Act 1896
The Light Railways Act 1896 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be obtained by the company that wished to construct it, which greatly added to the cost...
which would allow permission for public road crossings to be granted in perpetuity.
Rolling stock
The first engine was "Katie", an 0-4-00-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...
T with Brown/Heywood valvegear (it had originally been intended to fit Stephenson/Howe valvegear). Following this were two identical 0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
T locomotives, "Shelagh" and "Ursula". Further details are given below. Katie proved capable of handling up to 40 LT (40.6 t; 44.8 ST) on the level, or 20 LT (20.3 t; 22.4 ST) on the gradient, at a speed of around 10 mi/h. Under test, 20 mi/h was achieved in safety.
All rolling stock was built to negotiate curves of 25 feet (7.62 m)
minimum radius
Minimum railway curve radius
The minimum railway curve radius, the shortest design radius, has an important bearing on constructions costs and operating costs and, in combination with superelevation in the case of train tracks, determines the maximum safe speed of a curve. Superelevation is not a factor on tramway tracks...
. Self-acting coupler-buffers were fitted and measures were taken to ensure interchangeability of parts.
Thirty open waggons and a 4 wheeled brake van
Brake van
Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard...
were initially provided each wagon carrying about 16 long cwt (813 kg) of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
or 22 long cwt (1,118 kg) of brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
s. The wagon 'tops' were removable to allow them to be used as flats
Flatcar
A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck on four or six wheels or a pair of trucks or bogies . The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads...
, and bolster fittings were supplied to carry long items such as timber. An open 16 seat bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
coach, a bogie parcel van (for 'game') and a small open 4 wheeled brake 'van' were also provided at the opening. Finally, a closed bogie passenger vehicle some 20 feet (6.1 m) long seating 12 people inside and four outside and a bogie brake van seating four inside and four outside were supplied after opening. Other wagons were constructed by the Eaton Estate and rebuilt over the years.
Operation
The design estimate for the line was around 5000 LT (5,080 t; 5,600 ST) per year, mainly coalCoal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
, road metal and brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
s. To Heywood's mind it was the ideal application for this gauge of railway.
The Eaton Hall railway closed in 1946 and was lifted in 1947 .
A new 15 inches (381 mm) railway, named the Eaton Park Railway was built in 1994 with a replica of Katie. It is not available for use by the public except on the various garden open days. The new line consists of a large loop with a spur leading to the engine shed. The latter follows a small part of the original route.
The original Katie was sold to the newly-built Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District...
and then in 1922 to the Llewellyn Miniature Railway in Southport
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
. In 1923 she was sold to the Fairbourne Miniature Railway
Fairbourne Railway
The Fairbourne Railway is a gauge miniature railway running for from the village of Fairbourne on the Mid-Wales coast, alongside the beach to the end of a peninsula at Barmouth Ferry, where there is a connection with a pedestrian ferry across the Mawddach estuary to the seaside resort of...
where she operated trains until scrapping in 1926. Parts of the original are currently back at Ravenglass being rebuilt using the original frames and various parts from other Heywood locomotives, while a replica is being constructed by the Perrygrove Railway
Perrygrove Railway
The Perrygrove Railway is a minimum gauge railway of gauge. It is a private heritage railway at Perrygrove Farm in the Royal Forest of Dean near Coleford, Gloucestershire, England...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
which was built with Sir Arthur's work very much in mind.
Locomotives
- 1896 Katie 0-4-00-4-0Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...
T boiler 160 psi, grate area 2.12 sq ft (0.1969544448 m²)., heating surface 53 sq ft (4.9 m²)., cylinders 4.675"x7", wheel diameter 1'3", Brown/Heywood valvegear. - 1904 Shelagh 0-6-00-6-0Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
T boiler 160 psi, grate area 3 sq ft (0.27870912 m²)., heating surface 80 sq ft (7.4 m²)., cylinders 5.5"x8", wheel diameter 1'4", Brown/Heywood valvegear. - 1916 Ursula 0-6-00-6-0Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
T as Shelagh