During the exhibition of my railway at Duffield in 1894, one of the visitors was the Hon. Cecil Parker, agent to the Duke of Westminster, who was desirous of laying some sort of light railway from Eaton Hall to the Great Western Railway, three miles distant. It was necessary that the line should be unobtrusive in appearance, of a thoroughly permanent character, yet moderate in cost. The traffic was, as it proved, correctly estimated at from 5,000 to 6,000 tons annually. Here was a perfect opportunity for a practical experiment with the 15 in. gauge, which was ample for five times that amount. I was asked to inspect the route, and subsequently roughly estimated the cost, exclusive of buildings, at about £6,000. I had some doubt at first whether it was possible for me to find time to lay out and construct the whole line and rolling stock myself, but the difficulty of getting special designs effectively carried out by commercial firms at a reasonable cost decided me to undertake everything. It was at my desire eventually agreed that I should have a free hand in regard to all the designs, doing the work at cost price and without charge for my own time.

The line will now be generally described, after which some of the more interesting details will be enlarged upon.

The Eaton estate railway connects the Hall with the Great Western Railway at Balderton, 3 miles distant. The total length of line laid is 4½ miles, which includes, besides the main line, a branch ^¾ mile in length to the estate works near Pulford, together with several shorter branches to the estate brickyard and other points. The traffic to be dealt with, consisting chiefly of coal, road metal, and building material, was computed at about 6,000 tons per annum. As it was desired that the line should be as inconspicuous as possible, since it had to cross the park and the three principal drives, and the required capacity being small, it was decided to adopt the 15 in. gauge.

The line is laid with steel flat-bottomed rails, weighing 16½ lbs. per yard, and, to reduce repairs to a minimum, these are carried throughout on cast-iron sleepers, 3 ft. long, 6½ in. wide, weighing 28 lbs., and coated with anti-corrosive. Steel spring-keys secure the rails in jaws cast on the sleepers, which are spaced at 2 feet 3 inches centres, and, at the joints, at 1 ft. 4 in. Steel girders, on cast-iron foundation plates, are used for all the bridge-work. Thus no timber whatever is employed in the permanent way, and the depreciation is practically limited to wear of rails.

The rails for the points are rivetted on to flat-topped cast-iron sleepers, and were built up in my workshops, and forwarded ready for laying down. A set of points with seven sleepers carrying them, and with lever, counterweight, base plate, and the necessary rods, weighs about 4 cwts., and costs £7 15s. 0d. All the switches are planed out of the solid, and the crossings are of cast steel. Special cast-iron sleepers are employed on the girder bridges. These are of bar form, having below a cross-piece which is tightened up to the sleeper by two bolts, and which grips the inner flange of each girder. It is thus possible to set the rails to any moderate curve, on straight girders. For crossing roads a short and very strong sleeper, only 2 feet in length, is employed, with jaws fitted to take a second rail on each side to act as a guard-rail to the running one. These sleepers have a concrete foundation, and are packed to the required level with tarred macadam. The spaces are then filled in with the same material, and the road finished to a surface level with the top of the rails with a mixture of tar, pitch, and screenings. The flange space is of course left free; this is 1½ in. wide so as to avoid any chance of the shoes of draft horses jamming therein. The field crossings, to permit of carts crossing the line at convenient points in the various fields, are arranged with a similar double rail, but on a specially strong sleeper of the standard length, packed with ordinary ballast.

The ballast is red furnace cinder, 5 to 6 in. in depth below the sleepers. The surface width is 4 ft., and through the park the top of the ballast is level with the turf, the drainage here being effected by a central 4 in. pipe. The appearance is thus that of a narrow garden walk. For the remainder of the route, which is entirely over grass land with a stiff clay subsoil, the ballast is above ground.

The railway is unfenced throughout, and passes from field to field on short open girders with a dyke excavated below, thus preventing the passage of cattle. Two high roads besides the three drives are crossed on the level, and several brooks by girder bridges, the longest span being 28 ft. The line is practically a surface one, there being few noticeable cuttings and embankments. The cost of the earthwork has been £205 per mile. The maximum gradient against the load is 1 in 70, the highest point of the line is 63 ft. above the lowest, and the Eaton terminus is 51 ft. above the junction with the Great Western Railway. The curves on the main line do not run below 300 ft. in radius, but curves of 60 ft. radius, and, at difficult points, of still less, occur at some of the termini and on the branches. At Eaton a large covered coal stove 80 ft. long and 33 ft. wide has been erected, so arranged that the little wagons run in at a high level and readily discharge their contents.

The rolling stock, which is all capable of traversing a minimum curve of 25 ft. radius, is fitted throughout with self-acting coupler-buffers, and all similar parts are interchangeable. It comprises the following:—

One four-coupled locomotive weighing 3 tons in working order, and carrying enough water and fuel for an hour’s running.

Thirty wagons 6 ft. long, 3 ft. wide, 1 ft. 3 in. deep, weighing each 7½ cwts., and holding 16 to 17 cwts. of coal, or 20 to 22 cwts. of bricks and road metal. The sides are of box form and removable, so that the floors can be used as flat wagons for the conveyance of large stones, castings, &c. Fittings are attachable to any wagon for carrying long timber. Also one bogie passenger car 20 ft. long and 3 ft. 6 in. wide, weighing 23 cwts. and seating 16 persons, and one parcel van, to carry 2 tons, of approximately similar construction.

Various other vehicles; among which are a brake van, 6 wagons capable of carrying 1½ tons each, and 2 for 2 tons each. Full particulars of the construction of the rolling-stock, now increased, will be found in Sections V. and VI.

The gross load which the engine, exclusive of its own weight, will haul in regular work is 40 tons on the level, and 20 tons up the ruling gradient of 1 in 70; the speed being about 10 miles per hour. In an experimental trip, however, a speed of 20 miles per hour was attained without undue oscillation. This weight of train is by no means the limit which can be hauled on the line, for, on the Duffield Bank railway, the eight-wheel-coupled engine draws far more than this load, and on one occasion took eight bogie passenger cars carrying 124 persons up a gradient of 1 in 47 on which is a half-circle curve of only 40 ft. radius.

The entire cost of construction has been £1,095 per mile, exclusive of sheds. This figure would have been materially less but for the considerable expense attending the extra levelling and turfing required to avoid undue prominence. The cost of rolling stock has been £214 per mile, thus bringing the total outlay to £1,309 per mile.

The cost of loading being the same for railway wagons as for carts is not considered. With a minimum traffic of 5,000 tons per annum over an average distance of 2½ miles—equal to 12,500 ton-miles—the cost of transport is almost precisely 1s. per ton per mile; which is materially less than the cost of the cart haulage. The same rolling-stock and staff could readily deal with 40 tons per working day of eight hours—equal, at five days per week, to upwards of 10,000 tons a year. If the traffic were to reach this amount, the cost per ton of transport would be greatly reduced With a more powerful engine and additional rolling stock, such a line is capable of conveying an annual traffic of 40,000 tons.

There are probably many localities in which a diminutive railway like that at Eaton, ample in its capacity for estate requirements and extremely flexible in threading existing buildings, would well repay construction. The unobtrusiveness of so small a line and rolling stock, the relief to the roads, and the convenience of constant connection with the nearest railway, are points which are deserving of consideration where the conditions make such an installation possible.The laying of the line was begun in August, 1895. The earthwork was already well advanced. On account of the large amount of game in the neighbourhood of the line, it was considered wiser to employ no contractor, nor were any men obtainable with a knowledge of such diminutive platelaying. For the first fortnight I worked away myself with beater, rammer, and crowbar, till I had taught a proportion of my staff of 16 the use of these tools, and how to put the permanent way together. My assistant engineer, new to railway work, soon picked up the right ideas of what was required, and in a month, when I had to leave, everything was going nicely. A bonus was paid on every rail-length beyond a quarter-of-a-mile per week completed. This, compared with the fine work done by the Royal Engineers in the Soudan, appears a poor performance, but it must be remembered that we had to bring not only rails and sleepers from our base, but also all the ballast, and that we left our work thoroughly packed, the banks soiled and turfed, the road crossings laid in concrete and asphalte with double rails and special sleepers, the field-crossings for carts made good, the girder bridges and fence bridges (cattle stops) erected, and all points and crossings permanently finished off. About Christmas we reached Eaton Hall, and in the following May (1896) had pretty well finished all the branches.

Of course work done with such care and by the day was costly, and it would doubtless be possible to construct a similar line by contract at two-thirds of the price. But it is a question whether much would have been saved in the long run, for, except the usual platelayers’ work, no repairs of any sort have been necessary since completion, nor has any part of the mechanism failed or given trouble; a result not usually attained in contract work.

It may interest those who have similar work to deal with if I explain that in making this line all our material had to be hauled from our base on the Great Western Railway at Balderton. The procedure was as follows:—At the rail-end four 15 ft. lengths of light timber framing 9 in. deep were laid on the bare formation. A train then backed up with eight wagons of ballast, and on top of them four lengths of rail ready keyed to sleepers. The rails were lifted off alongside where they were to be laid, the “tops” of the wagons were removed and the ballast shovelled off on each side. The train then drew away to refill. The length of framing next the rail-end was lifted forward to the end of furthest framing, and so consecutively with the other three, thus leaving between the rail end and the fresh laid framing a space of 60 ft. with the loose ballast lying thereon. Four men with shovels and four with rammers then put the ballast in shape and rammed it solid, and also true to a level given by the engineer. The rails and sleepers were next lifted into place, and the fish plates affixed. The sleepers next the joints were temporarily packed, by which time a fresh train had arrived. The process was then repeated. In this manner, with a staff of ten men at the rail-end, a driver and boy with the train, six men loading ballast, three men straightening and bending rails, and three fixing them in sleepers, 60 ft. were laid in about forty minutes, including delays for field crossings and cattle-stop bridges. After a day or two of this work the men were set to packing and finishing what had been laid. With a larger staff the two processes might, but less conveniently, have proceeded at the same time.

The following is a detailed account of the cost of construction:—

The amount per mile to which the above works out has already been given. I am unable to give the cost of the coal store at Eaton, and of the engine and wagon sheds, although I designed them. They were executed by the estate, and being, for the most part, of the excellence and solidity of the neighbouring buildings, were doubtless somewhat expensive.

For all practical purposes simple wooden sheds would usually answer every requirement, and the extra amount spent at Eaton on levelling and sodding in the park much more than outweighed the omission of this item. As to the coal store this was altogether a special matter which does not affect the estimate of the cost per mile of this class of railway.

It will be of interest to give the actual amount of working expenses as compared with their estimated amount.

The best Welsh smokeless coal is used, costing about £1 per ton.

From the above figures the following deductions may be drawn:—

The locomotive worked an average of 4 days per week, hauling an average of 28 tons each day, and burning 1¾ cwts. of coal at a cost of 1s. 9d.

Full particulars of the hauling powers of the locomotive are given at the end of this section, where it will be seen that 70 tons a day can readily be dealt with, and that, in an emergency, 100 tons would be quite within reasonable compass.

It is required, at Eaton, that the engine should meet the wants of several independent departments on the estate, and in different directions, added to which only a limited number of men are usually available for loading. In effect, instead of matters being arranged primarily with a view to the economy of the working of the railway, the railway is made an instrument for the economical working of the various departments supplied by it. There is doubtless much to be said for the view that, as the driver’s wages have to be paid, he may as well have his engine in steam as often as required. But, notwithstanding this easy mode of working the traffic, the cost of haulage is 3d. per ton per mile less than the average cost of carting, including interest on capital as well as working expenses.

I may say that the line is kept in the most admirable order, clean, well packed, and neatly ballasted, and that, under the astute direction of the Hon. Cecil Parker, the Duke’s agent, the painstaking Superintendent of the line, Mr. Forster, records with the greatest accuracy the weight of every truck load of goods hauled, and the exact amount of all expenditure on the railway, thus giving a value to this somewhat novel experiment which it would not otherwise possess.

It should be mentioned that the amount expended on platelayers’ wages during 1896 exceeded the probably normal sum spent in 1897, on account of the road not having become till the latter year properly consolidated. The cinder ballast, though admirably porous, has proved somewhat deficient in solidity, and the sleepers have required a good deal more packing than should have been necessary.

Since the completion of the line in May, 1896, some additions have been made to the rolling-stock, with a view of obviating the necessity for the immediate unloading of every wagon. There was a strongly expressed idea among the employes that tip wagons would be more serviceable than the box wagons with loose “tops” supplied by me. I have always felt that the greater dead-weight of the former class of wagons in proportion to the load carried, and also their increased cost, heavily discounted their only advantage: celerity in unloading. In order, however, to bring the question to a definite proof, I constructed six tip wagons entirely of steel and cast iron which are fully described in Section VI. In practice these were found to work as well as it is possible for a tip wagon to do, but, nevertheless, the unloading advantages were wholly incommensurate with the drawbacks of greater dead-weight and less capacity. There was the further disability that a wagon of this class could not be used, as can the others, for the conveyance of timber or other bulky goods. In the end I removed all but two, which were left as samples, and replaced them with wagons of the original type.

I conclude this account of the Eaton railway by giving particulars of the trial trips of the small four-wheeled locomotive and of its hauling powers, and also of a test day’s work on time line.

The trials of No. 4 locomotive at Eaton were carried out in Sept., 1896, and the particulars were as follows (all weights being accurately taken on the weighbridge):—

Weight of engine in working order, with two men on the footplate, 3 tons 5 cwt.; weight of brake-van, with two men and a boy, 14 cwt.; pressure of steam throughout trials, 155 to 165 lbs. per sq. in.; ruling gradient between Balderton (G.W.R.) and Eaton, 1 in 70 rise from Balderton to Eaton, 51 ft.; rise from lowest to highest point, 63 ft.

Trip 1.—Balderton to Eaton, distance 3 miles exactly. To show that engine could haul its guaranteed load of 15 tons gross, exclusive of own weight. Coal train of thirteen wagons and van:—

Time from start to stop, 17 mins.; speed. 10 miles per hour. In all cases trains have to stop dead on a rising gradient of 1 in 100 before crossing the high road one mile from Balderton.

Trip 2.—Eaton to Balderton. To test capacity of engine for fast running. The same train as above, empty. Time from start to stop, 12 mins.; speed, 15 miles per hour.

Trip 3.—Balderton to Eaton. To determine maximum speed at which average weight of train could be run. Gross load, exclusive of engine, 14 tons; time from start to stop, 15 mins.; speed, 12 miles per hour.

Trip 4.—Eaton to Balderton. To test power of engine to haul a long train round the curve of 60 ft. radius on a gradient of 1 in 60, with which the line starts from Eaton. Gross load, exclusive of engine, 14 tons, consisting of 33 vehicles. The gradient was surmounted without difficulty. No time taken.

Trip 5. Balderton to Eaton. To test maximum capacity of engine.

Time from start to stop, 21½ mins.; speed, 8½ miles per hour. The first mile, fairly level, was run at 6¼ miles per hour only. The long gradient up to Eaton was run at just under 10 miles per hour, the steam blowing off freely with injector full on and damper three-quarters closed nearly all the last mile-and-a-half.

Trip 6:—From 1¼ to 2¼ mile posts, chiefly up gradient of 1 in 80. To test maximum running speed with light trains. Load: bogie passenger-car and van only. The maximum speed was attained on passing the 1½ mile post, but fell off slightly after passing the 1¾ post. Time by stop watch, from 1½ to 2 mile post, 1½ mins. exactly. Average speed, 20 miles per hour.

It is to be noted, since the 15 in. gauge is almost precisely one-quarter that of the standard railway gauge, and since possible speed is in direct proportion to gauge, that 10, 15, and 20 miles on the one equal 40, 60, and 80 on the other. Thus the average speed of 10 to 12 miles per hour usually maintained, including the road-crossing stop, by the mineral trains on the Eaton line is considerably in excess of the proportionate speed of similar trains on the standard railways.

In August, 1897, arrangements were courteously made at my request by the Hon. Cecil Parker and by Mr. W. A. Forster, to enable me to test the weight of minerals that could be transported in a full day’s work, over the three miles of line from Balderton to Eaton. Care was taken to obviate any delays in loading and unloading, but every truck had to be weighed separately on leaving Balderton, a process occupying about ten minutes with each train. Six trips were run during the day, and 69 tons of coal and road-metal were transported. There were four loaders at Balderton, and two unloaders at Eaton. The trains consisted of 12 wagons and van. The average gross weight, exclusive of engine, was about 17 tons, and the weight of minerals, or paying load, 12 tons. The speed was just under 10 miles per hour for the loaded trains, and 11.5 miles per hour for the empties. The engine left the shed at 8.15 a.m., and returned at 5.45 p.m., with a delay of 55 minutes for dinner. The weather was as bad as possible, slight showers all through the day making the rails so greasy as to necessitate the constant use of sand up the inclines. Time was also wasted in an extra journey for empty wagons, and in other unavoidable delays. About 1 hour 10 minutes was the average time taken over a trip out and back, reckoning to the time of next start. It is thus apparent that, with a little more arrangement, eight trips could have been run in the day. In the earlier trips, the gross loads hauled were only about sixteen tons, increasing later in the day to eighteen and nineteen tons. These larger loads might just as well have been also hauled on the earlier trips and it was apparent that, under less adverse conditions, 100 tons of paying load could have been transported in the day. Only 3 cwt. of coal was burned, including lighting up. The total distance run was 41 miles, and the average consumption of coal per mile, including that burned while standing, was 83 lbs. For Eaton Railway Regulations see Appendix C.