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:—