

Transcribed from the third edition by Peter Barnes.





                         MINIMUM GAUGE RAILWAYS:


                     THEIR APPLICATION, CONSTRUCTION,

                               AND WORKING.

                                * * * * *

  Being an account of the origin and evolution of the 15 in. gauge line

       at Duffield Bank, near Derby; also of the installation of a

         similar line at Eaton Hall, near Chester; together with

             various notes on the uses of such Railways, and

                   on the results of some experimental

                     investigations relating thereto.

                                * * * * *

                                    BY

                 Sir ARTHUR PERCIVAL HEYWOOD, Bart., M.A.

                                * * * * *

                             _THIRD EDITION_.

                    _PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION_.

                                * * * * *




Contents.

                                            PAGE
PREFACE                                     5, 6
                       I.
INTRODUCTION                                   7
                       II
OBJECTS OF THE 15 IN. GAUGE                    9
                      III
CONSTRUCTION OF THE DUFFIELD BANK LINE        11
                       IV
DETAILS OF THE EATON HALL LINE                15
                       V
LOCOMOTIVES                                   25
                       VI
WAGONS AND CARS                               32
                      VII
THE DUFFIELD BANK WORKSHOPS                   36
                      VIII
SCIENTIFIC CONSIDERATIONS                     38
                       IX
REMARKS ON NARROW GAUGE RAILWAYS              42
                       X
APPENDIX                                      46




Preface to Second Edition.


IN the year 1881, when the Royal Agricultural Society held their show in
Derby, it was represented to me that, as many of the members were
interested in the cheap transport offered by narrow gauge railways, it
would be appreciated if I opened my experimental line at Duffield to
inspection during the week.

In order to facilitate the comprehension of the objects of this little
railway, the late Secretary of the Society suggested that I should draw
up a short descriptive pamphlet to place in the hands of visitors. This
was done with success and much saving of verbal explanation.

Thirteen years later, having added considerably to the rolling stock and
improved many of the details, I decided to give a three days exhibition,
and to issue a general invitation to all interested in the promotion of
such lines, at the same time taking the opportunity to revise and amplify
the first edition of this pamphlet.

                                                                  A. P. H.

_August_, _1894_.




Preface to Third Edition.


SOME four years have elapsed since the second edition of this pamphlet
was exhausted. During this period I have constructed and equipped at
Eaton Hall, Cheshire, a line which has been in regular use since May,
1896, exactly similar to my own at Duffield. This railway having been
made wholly for practical purposes and on strictly economic principles, I
am in a position to present more reliable data, both in regard to cost
and working, than I could obtain from my own experimental line, which has
been continually altered and only irregularly worked.

I desire to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to the Duke of
Westminster for the free hand accorded me in regard to the arrangement of
all details of the Eaton Railway; a liberty which has resulted in a
symmetrical and entirely successful carrying out of the work.

What I am now able to advance will, I trust, amply demonstrate the really
solid advantages which, under suitable conditions, may be reaped from the
installation of little railways of the kind described.

                                                                  A. P. H.

_July_, _1898_.




I.
INTRODUCTION.


AT the outset I must offer an apology for making use, throughout this
pamphlet, of the first person. I do so partly for convenience of
expression, and partly because almost all that I have to advance is
derived from my own experience.  In doing so I am far from desiring to
undervalue the work of others in the same direction. I have, however,
little hesitation in saying that, with the exception of the late Mr.
Charles Spooner, the able Engineer of the Festiniog Railway, most of
those, so far as I know, who are responsible for the design of plant for
these small lines have been manufacturers whose productions, though often
of fair workmanship, are clearly indicative of a failure to grasp many of
the leading principles involved. This shortcoming is the natural result
of a want of sufficient time for the consideration of details, and a
consequent tendency to imitate established customs in regard to railway
work which by no means apply with equal advantage to very narrow gauges,
where the conditions involved are wholly different. This is especially
true of small locomotive building, the specimens of which evidence in
their design not only ignorance on important points, but also a
deplorable absence of the sense of well-balanced proportion.

I venture to think that, in the twenty-five years during which I have
devoted much of my time to the subject, I have succeeded in bringing to
considerable perfection both permanent way and rolling stock suitable for
these diminutive lines, and more especially the locomotives, which are
probably, for their weight, the most powerful and flexible ever built to
work by simple adhesion. Whether this conceit be well founded or no I
leave to the judgment of those who may be at the pains to acquaint
themselves with the details and result of my work, which has been
undertaken wholly as a labour of love with the sole desire to promote
improvement in what I believe to be an entirely special branch of
engineering. I have never wasted my money on patents, and, so long as my
designs are not imitated in a bungling manner, I am glad to see them made
use of by anyone to whom they may be of service.

It must be understood that I do not here attempt to enter upon the
comparative merits of narrow gauge railways generally, but merely to give
particulars of what has come within my own experience. To facilitate a
comprehension of the conditions under which I have worked, it will be
well to explain that I make no pretension to be considered a professional
engineer, and that I speak rather as a self-taught mechanic and surveyor.

My father possessed a beautiful Holtzappfel lathe, with elaborate tools
for ornamental turning in wood and metal. As a boy of seven or eight I
can recall watching him as he worked. At ten years old I was promoted to
stand on a box and turn candlesticks, but, a year or two later, a few
lessons—the only direct practical instruction I ever had—from an old
fishing-rod maker in chasing metal screw-threads begot in me an ardent
desire to construct machinery, particularly anything pertaining to
railways, for which from my childhood I had an absorbing craze.

By my father’s kindness I, by-and-bye, fitted up a workshop in which the
tools were driven by a half-horse steam engine; and at eighteen had
completed my first locomotive, weighing 56 lbs., which, with a dozen or
so of small wagons, made a fine show on some 40 yards of brass-railed
permanent way of 4 in. gauge. Locomotive driving was my hobby when I went
up to Cambridge, and many were the tips that I learned in my illicit
journeyings on the footplate. The new degree of “Applied Science” had
just made its appearance, in which, in 1871, I had the doubtful credit of
appearing alone in the first class. Doubtful, because the papers were
absurdly simple, and the examiners hardly educated beyond the bare
theories of the mechanical processes; for it was long anterior to the
days of Professor Stuart and his engineering laboratory, where,
by-the-bye, I once remember seeing the “demonstrator” supervising the
reduction of a 4 in. shaft on a stout 9 or 10 in. lathe by a young turner
whose nervous and thread-like shavings would have ensured his speedy
dismissal from any commercial machine-shop.

When I settled at Duffield in 1872, I at once began to put into practice
the views I had formed in regard to the possibility of advantageously
superseding horse traction, in cases where a traffic, though heavy, was
wholly insufficient to justify a more costly railway, by a line of the
narrowest and consequently the cheapest gauge compatible with safety. It
is to a setting forth of the results of my experiments during the years
that have since elapsed, that the following pages are devoted. My claim
to a hearing is chiefly based upon having always been my own draughtsman,
and, for my first two larger locomotives, also moulder, machinist, and
fitter. Owing to the increasing number of experiments, and to other calls
upon my time, assistance eventually became necessary, and, though I am
still conceited enough to keep the more delicate manipulations in my own
hands, so far as I can find time to execute them, it has gradually come
about that I have seven or eight artisans in the little workshops.
Practical acquaintance with every detail both in survey, design, and
construction of narrow-gauge railways has given me something of a pull
over the professional engineer. Thus it happens that, without the credit
of any exceptional ability, I have had advantages that fall to few of
acquiring information which I desire to lay before those who are
interested in the rapid and economical transport of a moderate annual
tonnage.

The first three sections of this pamphlet comprise a brief sketch of the
purposes, origin, and construction of my own line. In Section IV. is
given a detailed account of the construction, working, and cost of the
similar line which I made to connect Eaton Hall with the Great Western
Railway. Sections V., VI., VII., and VIII. are more technical, and may be
passed over by those not interested in the mechanical details, although
it is to the care that has been bestowed on these that my success is
chiefly attributable. Section IX. deals, from such experience as I have
acquired, with the conditions under which these small railways may be
profitably installed. In Section X. I have appended a few further items
of possible interest.




II.
OBJECTS OF THE 15 IN. GAUGE.


WHEN, in 1874, I started on the construction of my experimental railway,
the more notable narrow-gauge lines in our own country were those of 18
in. at Crewe, Woolwich, Chatham, and Aldershot—the latter a sad failure
and the admirable 23½ in. from Portmadoc to the Festiniog Slate Quarries.
The Festiniog Railway, which owed its success as a locomotive-worked line
to the persistent energy and ability of the late Mr. Charles Spooner,
opened the eyes of the transport-interested world to the extraordinary
capacity of a very narrow gauge. But here the marvel lies in the manner
in which the work was adapted to the gauge, not in the suitability of the
gauge to the work. No one but an enthusiast would dare to contend that a
two-foot gauge was the ideal width for a line employing twenty-ton
locomotives and hauling about 100,000 passengers and some 150,000 tons of
minerals and goods per annum. If this development could have been
foreseen, the selected gauge would doubtless have been wider. Such a
traffic, however, is quite outside the scope of this pamphlet, the logic
of which is directed to shewing how a much smaller annual tonnage than
has been hitherto deemed worthy of a railway may be profitably thus
conveyed.

An 18 in. line, such as one of those above referred to, would, if of not
more than three or four miles in length and tolerably level, be capable
of transporting, with one locomotive, 60,000 tons of minerals annually,
reckoning the traffic as in one direction only. There are, however, up
and down the country, a number of cases where a traffic of from 5,000 to
10,000 tons is annually hauled between two fixed points over the public
highways by a single employer. Such cases may be classified as large
mansions, public institutions, mines, quarries, &c. Now it is clear that,
unless there is a prospect of large increase in the traffic, it would be
absurd to employ for a maximum of 10,000 tons a railway equal to 60,000
tons, and so the question arises:—What is the smallest and therefore the
cheapest railway capable of being practically and advantageously worked?
This is the question to which I venture to think I can give a reliable
answer.

In the year 1874, after various preliminary trials, I determined to
construct a line of 15 in. gauge, as the smallest width possessing the
necessary stability for practical use, although I once laid down one of 9
in. gauge for my younger brothers, which proved by no means deficient in
carrying power.

The stability of this 9 in. line was perfect enough so long as persons
did not attempt to ride on the ends and edges of the carriages and
wagons, but man being an article of approximately standard size, it is
clear there must be a minimum gauge which will be stable enough to be
independent of such liberties.

Rolling stock properly proportioned to a 15 in. gauge seems the smallest
that will thoroughly insure safety in this respect, and indeed in France
the late M. Décauville, who did so much to develop lines of this class,
arrived at nearly similar conclusions in adopting a minimum width of 16
in.

It must not, of course, be understood that gauges of such small
proportions are to be advocated except where the traffic is unlikely to
increase beyond their capacity, and where the material to be moved can
conveniently be loaded in moderate sized wagons.

Feeling, however, convinced of the eventual recognition of the utility of
lines of minimum gauge, I took some pains to become acquainted with what
had been already achieved in this direction, with the result that,
excepting only the Festiniog railway, where every detail was most ably
worked out by the late Mr. Spooner, I found generally both road and
rolling-stock constructed as mere imitations of those of the standard
gauge, and showing a want of apprehension of the totally different
conditions to be satisfied. To endeavour to solve the various problems
involved in the successful design of engines, carriages, wagons, and
roadway for a minimum gauge is, therefore, the main object of my little
railway. The chief ends in view are the application of such lines to
agricultural or commercial purposes on large estates, or where quarries,
brick yards, and other industrial establishments need better connection
with the pier or railway station from which their productions are
forwarded. An excellent example of such a line is now to be found in the
one I have constructed at Eaton Hall, particulars of which are given in
Section IV. There were also problems relating to adhesion and friction,
particularly from the narrow-gauge point of view, which I was desirous of
solving, some remarks on which will be found in Section VIII.




III.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE DUFFIELD BANK LINE.


THE construction of my line of 15 in. gauge was commenced in 1874, and
various additions were made up to 1881, when the length laid amounted to
a little over a mile, inclusive of sidings. Since the latter date there
has been no material extension, but the permanent way and its accessories
have been gradually improved.

The line runs from the farm and workshops, up a gradient varying from 1
in 10 to 1 in 12 about a quarter-of-a-mile long, to a level 80 ft. above,
where the experimental course is laid out in the shape of a figure 8, so
as to admit of continuous runs. This part, somewhat more than half-a-mile
in length, has a level stretch of a quarter-of-a-mile, the remainder
consisting of gradients, of which 1 in 20 is the most severe. The minimum
curve on the main line is 25 ft. radius, but in the sidings some occur as
sharp as 15 ft. radius.

The permanent way was at first laid with 14 lb. rails, without
fish-plates, spiked to elm and Spanish chestnut sleepers fallen and sawn
on the premises, 5 in. wide, 2 in. thick, and 2 ft. 6 in. long, set at 1
ft. 6 in. centres. The maximum load did not exceed 12 cwt. per axle, but,
although the work was well done, the road was not equal to the weight,
and required incessant attention. The line was then re-laid on sleepers
6½ in. wide, 4 in. thick, and 3 ft. long, with various sections of rails,
12 lbs., 14 lbs., 18 lbs., and 22 lbs. per yard. These were all fitted
with fish-plates, the joints being on a sleeper. The spacing of the
sleepers was varied with the rails, from 1 ft. 6 in. for the 12 lb. to 3
ft. for the 22 lb. section. Any part of this road carries comfortably 25
cwt. per axle. The fish-plates and larger area of sleeper more than
doubled the original carrying power of the rails.

Six years being about the life of these small sleepers, it soon became
necessary to renew them. Seeing that the rails, owing to the light
traffic, remained perfectly good, to have to pull the road to pieces for
the sake of new sleepers only was a serious annoyance. I then determined
to try a light cast-iron sleeper with the same bearing area. After some
years of experiment, a thoroughly satisfactory one was perfected, in
which the rail is held to its place by a curved steel spring key that
cannot work out. The greater part of the line is now laid on these
cast-iron sleepers, which weigh 28 lbs. each, inclusive of the chairs,
which are cast on. This pattern has now had some eighteen years’ test,
and has proved entirely satisfactory. With a 14 lb. steel rail, the
sleepers being spaced 2 ft. 3 in., and at the suspended fish-joint 1 ft.
3 in., the road, under the load of 25 cwt. per axle, requires very little
repair, some parts having stood for five or six years without being
touched, though constantly run over.

The length of the sleeper is a very material point. It should project
beyond the rail a distance of rather more than half the gauge of the line
thus the rail is equally supported inside and out. When the projection is
reduced, the centre of the sleepers cannot be packed up solid, because
the support would then be greatest between