Sir Arthur Percival Heywood , 3rd Baronet (1849-1916) was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Percival Heywood. He grew up in the family home of Dove Leys at Denstone in Staffordshire. Staffordshire (abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. ...

The home looked over the valley where ran the North Staffordshire Railway from Rocester to Ashbourne. The family travelled by train to their relatives in Manchester and on holiday to Inveran in the Highland region of Scotland, thus Sir Arthur developed a passion for the railway from an early age. The North Staffordshire Railway was a British railway company which had its roots in an early scheme to build a small plateway from the base of the Cauldon canal up to Cauldon quarries. ... Rocester is a village and civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England, about four miles north of Uttoxeter, and close to the county border with Derbyshire. ... ... Manchester is a major city within Greater Manchester in North West England, historically notable for being the worlds first industrialised city, and its subsequent central role in the Industrial Revolution. ... Inveran or Inverin (Indreabhán in Irish) is a Gaeltacht village in Connemara between Spiddal and Casla in County Galway, Ireland. ... The Highland unitary authority area (Roinn na Gàidhealtachd in Gaelic) is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and the largest local government area in Scotland. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

He assisted his father in his hobby of ornamental metalwork, with a Holtzapffel lathe, and in his late teenage, built a four inch gauge model railway with a steam locomotive. Wanting something on which his younger siblings could ride, he went on to build a nine-inch gauge locomotive and train, which gave him the experience for his later ventures. A lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material so that when abrasive, cutting, or deformation tools are applied to the block, it can be shaped to produce an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation. ...

Initially schooled at Eton, in 1868, he went on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he made friends with the local railway people, cadging lifts on the footplates of locos. He passed out with a degree in Applied Science. As a landed gentleman, however, convention frowned on him developing an engineering career. Eton can refer to several things: Eton, Berkshire, a town in England. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names King’s Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street...

In 1872 he married his cousin, Margaret Effie, daughter of the Reverend George Sumner, Rector of Alresford in Hampshire and set up home on Duffield Bank, near Duffield near Derby, the headquarters of the Midland Railway. Since many of the directors lived in Duffield, he soon developed an interest in Derby Works. He became aware of experiments by the Royal Engineers in building railways in warfare. 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Hampshire, sometimes historically Southamptonshire or Hamptonshire, (abbr. ... Duffield is a prosperous commuter village situated next to the River Derwent in Derbyshire at the lower end of the Pennines around five miles north of Derby England. ... Derby (pronounced dar-bee ) is a city in the East Midlands of England. ... The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed from 1844 to 1922. ... British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) Derby consisted of two separate works; Derby Loco works, and Derby Carriage and Wagon works. ... The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. ...

These first experiments had been distinctly unsuccessful, as had previous attempts dating back several decades to build "portable railways" for agricultural use. Thus, at what was known as the Duffield Bank Railway, Heywood developed what he called the "minimum gauge railway". He settled on 15 in (381 mm) as the optimum, his previous 9 in line having proved to be too small to carry people in a stable manner. Built on a steep hillside, the line was an ideal testing ground and, to gain the adhesion for steep gradients and the ability to negotiate small radius curves, he built six-coupled locomotives with what he called his "radiating axle." Minimum Gauge Railways are narrow gauge railways that run on extremely narrow gauged rail tracks, below 2 ft (610 mm). ...

Though the line remained in use for many years and was visited by many potential buyers, the only interest came from the Duke of Westminster for whom he built the Eaton Hall Railway. Arms of the Dukes of Westminster (since 1825) The title of Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Richard Grosvenor, the 3rd Marquess of Westminster. ... The Eaton Hall Railway was an early 15 inch gauge steam railway built in 1896 at Eaton Hall in Cheshire. ...

Sir Arthur also had a keen interest in campanology (bell ringing) and he founded the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. He was often to be seen a Duffield's St. Alkmunds Church and in the years up to 1887, augmented its peal from six to ten.. Campanology is the study of bells — the methods of casting and tuning them, and the art or science of ringing them. ...

Sir Arthur's father died in 1897 and he inherited Dove Leys, where he began to build another railway between the road, where there was a coal store, and the house. His intention was to extend to Norbury railway goods yard, but Colonel Clowes who owned the land in between refused to give him wayleave. Sir Arthur then extended the line southwards to nearby Dove Cliff farm, which was part of his estate, and thence to Rocester station. However he was again unable to obtain wayleave from his other neighbour, Colonel Dawson. 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Norbury is a village in south-west Staffordshire, England It is situated approximately five miles north-east of Newport, just south of the A519 Newport to Newcastle-under-Lyme road, and two miles south-east of Woodseaves. ... Rocester is a village and civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England, about four miles north of Uttoxeter, and close to the county border with Derbyshire. ...

When World War I began in 1914, all three of his sons went on active service, as did many of his staff. Sir Arthur carried on, particularly with work on the Eaton Hall Railway. However he was unwell in the early part of 1916 and took a turn for the worse on the 19th. April during a visit to Duffield Bank and died in the afternoon. Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

References

• Clayton, H., (1968) The Duffield Bank and Eaton Railways. The Oakwood Press, X19, ISBN 0-853610-34-7
• Smithers, Mark, (1995) Sir Arthur Heywood and the Fifteen Inch Gauge Railway, Plateway Press, ISBN 1-871980-22-4.