.png) The Belgrave engine shed on the Eaton Hall Railway c.1898. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Eaton Hall |
| Locale | England |
| Dates of operation | 1896–1946 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 15 in (381 mm) |
| Length | 4.5 miles (7.2 km) |
The Eaton Hall Railway was an early 15 in (381 mm) gauge minimum gauge estate railway built in 1896 at Eaton Hall in Cheshire. The line, which connected the Grosvenor estate with sidings at Balderton on the GWR Shrewsbury to Chester Line about 3 miles (4.8 km) away, opened in 1896. It was built for the Duke of Westminster by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood, who had pioneered the use of 15 in (381 mm) gauge with his Duffield Bank Railway at his house at Duffield, Derbyshire in 1874.
The narrow gauge railway, which had about four and a half miles (7.2 km), was used mainly to bring deliveries of fuel to Eaton Hall. It had a branch to the estate brickworks at Cuckoo's Nest, Pulford. Other supplies were also transported to the main house and it sometimes carried passengers. The line closed in 1946 and was removed a year later. In 1994 a 15 in (381 mm) garden railway was installed at Eaton Hall; it is open when the estate is open to the public.