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This page gives information about equipment associated with the minimum gauge railways of Sir Arthur Heywood.
We are working on plans for a building to display the Heywood Collection and other material which celebrates the work of Sir Arthur Heywood. Projects like this take a long time, and funding is not yet complete. News will be posted here as work progresses.
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ORIGINAL HEYWOOD EQUIPMENT
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The Duffield Bank/Dove Leys "Top" wagon
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This wagon is believed to have been built in 1886 or soon afterwards - this date is cast into 2 axleboxes. It was built for the Duffield Bank Railway and was latterly at Dove Leys on the hand-worked system at Sir Arthur's family seat. It was sold at auction when the Heywood family left Dove Leys in 1948 and was used to lay a cricket pitch and then in a sawmill. The "Top" is the name given to the removable sides which can be lifted off to allow discharge of loose materials (coal, stone, etc.). This part and the coupling flaps are new but everything else is original including the brown paint on the frames. The original "stopper" which fills the bolster pivot hole exists, together with its metal pocket in which it was kept when a bolster was fitted. The body is 5 ft 3 inches long and 2 ft 9 inches wide.
Eventually the wagon ended up in another auction where it was spotted by Chris Carr who had the good sense to buy it even though he wasn't sure what it was! Later he discovered where it had come from. One day he turned up at Perrygrove and told us he had it - we weren't sure whether to believe him at first because it is such a rare survivor.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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The Duffield Bank rail bending wagon
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The Duffield Bank rail bending wagon was used by Sir Arthur
Heywood at Duffield Bank. It did not appear in the auction
catalogue when the equipment at Duffield Bank was sold,
probably because it had gone to the family seat at Dove Leys.
It was eventually found in a field near Uttoxeter.
It was bought in a farm sale by Mr. Alan Headech for £10 in 1982 and was put in a lock-up which was
set on fire and all the woodwork was destroyed. The wood was replaced by Austin Moss of the Windmill Farm Railway. All the metalwork is original except for fixings and replacement rail rollers on
the ends.
Some tools were found with the wagon including an original track gauge stamped "APH" which proves
conclusively that Sir Arthur's railways were exactly 15" gauge unlike many later lines which are over-gauge.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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The Eaton Hall platelayers' wagon
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This wagon was built at Duffield Bank works in 1895 as a platelayers' trolley for the Eaton Railway at a cost of £9-2-0. It was pushed by hand and so did not need couplings. It originally carried a toolbox on top. The curved hooks underneath would have carried crowbars etc. Much lettering is cast into the wheels. In the picture this is the wagon nearest the camera.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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The Eaton Hall "Top" wagon
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This is an example of the standard type of wagon which was used at Eaton Hall to carry coal, bricks, and timber - the principal freight traffic on the estate. The metalwork is original, as is most of the timber up to the deck. The removable "top" is new.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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The Eaton Hall sawmill wagon (provisional identification)
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In 1947 the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway bought most of the railway at Eaton Hall. Many items of rolling stock had been scrapped by the 1970s, but some items survived and are mentioned on these pages. This wagon was discovered in the yards at New Romney and after lengthy negotiations it was donated to the Heywood Collection in exchange for a maker's plate from the Davey Paxman locomotive Southern Maid which itself had been donated to further the objectives of the Collection by George Barlow BEM, the famous Romney driver.
We think this wagon was built at Eaton Hall for use in the sawmill, using parts already in stock and possibly some which were purchased in the auction at Duffield Bank after Sir Arthur Heywood's death in 1916. The original Heywood couplings have been broken off and replaced with a hook and chain, and dumb buffers have been fixed to the headstocks.
At the moment this wagon is being assessed under our conservation policy.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently in store awaiting conservation
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The Eaton Hall bogie Brake Van
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There were two brake vans on the railway at Eaton Hall, a 4 wheel vehicle delivered in 1896 and a bogie van delivered in 1901. When it went to the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) the height was cut down to suit the reduced loading gauge. The bogie vehicle was returned to Eaton Hall in 1980. In 2006 a replica was completed by the Estate staff at Eaton Hall using ironwork from the original body, which was then generously donated to the Heywood Collection by the Duke of Westminster KG OBE TD DL. We are grateful to Patrick Keef for facilitating this generous donation. The decision has been taken to conserve this vehicle in its current condition because the work necessary to return it to working order would destroy most of the original material. For our thoughts on conservation, see the page about the Heywood Collection.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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The Eaton Hall Saloon carriage
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This vehicle was delivered to the Eaton Hall railway in 1904. According to Driver Harry Wilde's visitors book from Eaton, Sir Winston Churchill was carried in January 1905 and in the same year so were King Edward VII, Baron Rothschild and The King of Spain. In 1947 it was removed to the RH&DR and, like the bogie brake van, it returned to Eaton Hall in 1980. In 2004 a replica was completed by the Estate staff at Eaton Hall using ironwork from the original body, which was then generously donated to the Heywood Collection by the Duke of Westminster KG OBE TD DL. The saloon was collected from Eaton Hall in February 2004. After 3 years hard work by James Waterfield and Richard Pennington it arrived at Perrygrove on 31st August 2007 and was re-commissioned by Sir Peter Heywood, great grandson of Sir Arthur. We are sincerely grateful to Ken Davies and Patrick Keef for facilitating this generous donation, and to Peter and Jackie Heywood for their enthusiastic support.
Owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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| Work on the frames |
The Duke of Westminster's saloon carriage at Perrygrove in 2007 |
Recommissioning the saloon in 2007 |
Ducal luxury, 1904 style |
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The Eaton Hall open carriage
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Some remains from this vehicle were generously donated to the Heywood Collection in 2004 by the Duke of Westminster KG OBE TD DL, and were collected from Eaton Hall in February. The remains were fragmentary and in poor condition. After careful consideration and measurement of all the pieces a single seat section has been conserved for display. We are sincerely grateful to Ken Davies and Patrick Keef for facilitating this generous donation. The picture shows the recreated open carriage at Eaton Hall which uses metalwork from the original.This picture was taken in 2002 and is published with the kind permission of the Eaton Hall estate. Sorry, no larger image is available
Seat section owned by the Heywood Collection & presently at Perrygrove
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Original Equipment at other places
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A considerable number of original artefacts survive from the days of Sir Arthur Heywood, including a lathe which is now in the USA, several original items of rolling stock in the private collection of the Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall (available for public viewing on occasional open days, relics of the use of Heywood equipment in Cumbria at the The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway museum, and numerous small items which are sometimes brought to Perrygrove on special occasions. The most important item is the original locomotive Muriel of 1894 which runs at Ravenglass as River Irt, albeit heavily modified.
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RE-CREATIONS OF HEYWOOD EQUIPMENT
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Locomotive Ursula
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Sir Arthur Heywood built six locomotives, Effie, Ella, Katie, Muriel, Shelagh and Ursula, his last. Ursula was an order from the Eaton estate and was nearly complete when he visited his Duffield Bank workshops for the last time after moving to the family seat at Dove Leys when he inherited the baronetcy. But, so the story goes, it wasn't complete enough, and the stress of trying to push the job forward may have contributed to his death in 1916. We will never know. The engine saw only limited use on the Eaton railway, and was cut up with her sister Shelagh (by now re-named Katie) in 1942. A few parts survived and when James Waterfield decided to re-create one of Sir Arthur's locomotives he chose Ursula as his subject. The project took him 7 years and was completed in 1999. Since then Ursula has run on the Bure Valley, Cleethorpes, Ravenglass & Eskdale, and her "home" railway at Eaton Hall. Her base is the Perrygrove Railway and here's a
video clip by Geoff Cryer (for more like this see Geoffspages - search for Perrygrove).
Owned by James Waterfield and usually based at Perrygrove
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The Duffield Bank Dining Carriage
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Originally built by Sir Arthur Heywood at his workshops at Duffield Bank, this vehicle was described and illustrated in his book Minimum Gauge Railways in 1898. It seated 8 in rather tight comfort and was complete with a kitchen fitted with a Rippingille's patent oil stove. In 1894 Liutenant Galloway of the Royal Engineers had tea in it. He wrote: 'I was invited by Mr. Heywood's brother to test it by having an express tea therein, and I think it speaks much for the efficiency of the rubber springs that the cup, though ordinarily full, did not display any great desire to empty the contents into its saucer, even at 15 mph. It is a difficult car to enter; one has to stoop very low to get along the passage between the china cupboards, but once in it is all right, though the corridor is useless, for the passengers have to stow themselves one at a time, beginning at the corner furthest from the door, and occupy the whole width. The cook has plenty of room in the kitchen, but waiting can only be done by making a long arm from the kitchen door.'
The original carriage ended up at Ravenglass and rotted away in the sidings at Murthwaite after being rejected for revenue-earning service. The re-creation was built from the original drawings and is used for private occasions at Perrygrove, when a wind-up gramophone evokes long-lost summer evenings of garden parties at the Tennis Ground at Duffield Bank.
Owned by James Waterfield and usually based at Perrygrove
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The Eaton Hall bogie Brake Van
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This vehicle was built by James Waterfield as a replica of the original (see above). It has been built to follow the original in every respect except that it is fitted with air brakes so that it can be used on passenger trains. This is an example of a situation where it is far more sensible to use a replica because the work necessary to return the original to working order would destroy almost all the original materials.
Owned by James Waterfield and usually kept at Perrygrove
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The Duffield Bank Dynamometer Carriage
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When Sir Arthur began work on his railway at Duffield Bank he thought of it as a practical scientific experiment with a particular object, which was to devise a system of small railways that could serve an economic purpose in particular situations. The dynamometer carriage is evidence of this thinking. It was used to measure drawbar pull, speed, and distance travelled, and thus to calculate locomotive performance and efficiency. The original vanished long ago - the re-creation has been used for the original purpose on several railways.
Owned by James Waterfield and usually kept at Perrygrove
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Locomotive Ella
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Ella was Sir Arthur's second locomotive, and his favourite. The original ended its days at Ravenglass and parts were used to build petrol locomotives when the original had expired. Some parts still exist. The re-creation was commenced in a burst of enthusiasm but the effort, time, and money required to build one of these machines is enormous, and progress has stalled. This project may always remain a "might have been", but perhaps one day we will turn to it again and complete the job.
Owned by the Heywood Collection. Frames at Perrygrove
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RE-CREATIONS OF HEYWOOD EQUIPMENT AT OTHER PLACES
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Locomotive Effie
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Effie was Sir Arthur's first engine and a picture of the original is on the "Historical Background" page. A re-creation was built for David Humphries by Great Northern Steam Ltd and is now based on the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway. She has visited Perrygrove and we hope she will come here again. Another example is nearing completion by James Waterfield.
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Locomotive Katie
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Katie was built by Sir Arthur as the first locomotive for the Eaton Hall railway. Many parts from the original are being used to rebuild her at Ravenglass. There is a re-creation at Eaton Hall which can be seen on public open days, and several others have been started. One is rapidly approaching completion and we hope she will visit Perrygrove in the future.
Photo credit John Myers
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For more pictures of Heywood equipment look at Steve Bennett's photo pages
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