GWR 7800 Class

GWR 7800 “Manor” Class
7802 "Bradley Manor", one of the nine preserved locomotives of the original 30 in the class.
Power type	Steam
Builder	GWR/BR Swindon Works
Order number	Lot 316, Lot 377
Build date	1938–1939, 1950
Total produced	30
Configuration	4-6-0
UIC classification	2'Ch2
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading wheel diameter	3 ft 0 in (914 mm)
Driver diameter	5 ft 8 in (1,727 mm)
Minimum curve	8 chains (528 ft; 161 m) normal, 7 chains (462 ft; 141 m) slow
Wheelbase	Loco: 27 ft 1 in (8.26 m) Loco & tender: 52 ft 1 3⁄4 in (15.89 m)
Length	61 ft 9 1⁄4 in (18.83 m)
Height	13 ft 0 in (3.96 m)
Axle load	17 tons 5 cwt (38,600 lb or 17.5 t)
Locomotive weight	68 tons 18 cwt (154,300 lb or 70.0 t) full
Tender weight	40 tons 0 cwt (89,600 lb or 40.6 t) full
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	7 tons 0 cwt (15,700 lb or 7.1 t)
Water capacity	3,500 imp gal (16,000 l; 4,200 US gal)
Boiler	GWR type 14
Boiler pressure	225 psi (1.55 MPa)
Firegrate area	22.1 sq ft (2.05 m2)
Heating surface: Tubes and flues	1,285.5 sq ft (119.43 m2)
Heating surface: Firebox	140.0 sq ft (13.01 m2)
Superheater area	160.0 sq ft (14.86 m2)
Cylinders	Two, outside
Cylinder size	18 × 30 in (457 × 762 mm)
Tractive effort	27,340 lbf (121.61 kN)
Career	Great Western Railway British Railways
Class	GWR: 7800 “Manor”
Power class	GWR: D BR: 5MT
Number in class	30
Axle load class	GWR: Blue
Retired	April 1963 – December 1965
Disposition	21 scrapped, 9 preserved

The Great Western Railway (GWR) 7800 Class or Manor Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. They were designed as a lighter version of the GWR Grange Class, giving them a wider Route Availability. Like the 'Granges', the 'Manors' used parts from the GWR 4300 Class Moguls but just on the first batch of twenty. Twenty were built between 1938 and 1939, with British Railways adding a further 10 in 1950. Nine are preserved.

History

The first of the Manors No.7800 Torquay Manor entered traffic in January 1938 and 20 were in service by February 1939. They used the driving wheels, motion components and tenders from withdrawn GWR 4300 Class moguls. A new standard boiler, type No. 14, was developed for the class. The outbreak of war forced the cancellation of construction of a further batch of 20 locomotives. The Manor class, with an axle loading of just over 17 tons, could be utilised on many lines from which the heavier Granges were barred. The first examples were despatched to depots at Wolverhampton, Bristol, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Westbury in Wiltshire and Neyland in South Wales. In October 1938 No.7805 Broome Manor underwent clearance tests between Ruabon and Barmouth. Subsequently the class were used over the main lines of the erstwhile Cambrian Railways. The Manors were also successfully employed in the West Country where they were used for banking and piloting trains over the Devon banks between Newton Abbot and Plymouth. Their light axleloading allowed them across the Tamar Bridge and on to the branch lines of Cornwall.

Unlike the Granges of 1936 where the use of standard components and the re-use of existing ones had produced a masterpiece the initial performance of the Manors was comparatively mediocre. Were it not for the constraints of war there is every reason to expect that Swindon would have recalled the engines for modifications.

After nationalisation, the newly created Western Region was authorised to build ten more of the class. Nos.7820-29 were outshopped from Swindon in November and December 1950. There was no attempt to improve the steaming; a British Railway edict permitted construction only of existing pre-nationalisation designs. Subsequent trials showed the engines did not require too much work to correct their faults. Internal alterations to the blastpipe and an increase in air space in the firegrate added to the new type of narrow chimney noticeably improved the draughting. After trials on 10 of the class, the improvements became standard after July 1954.

By 1959 21 Manors were congregated in Mid- and South Wales. Their most prestigious working was the Cambrian Coast Express, where a Manor took over from a King or Castle at Shrewsbury and worked through to Aberystwyth. Others of the class operated in the Birmingham, Gloucester and Hereford areas while the handful stationed at Reading frequently ventured on to the Southern Region line to Guildford and Redhill.

The first Manor to be scrapped was No.7809 Childrey Manor, withdrawn from Shrewsbury depot in April 1963 and cut up at Swindon. By May 1965 the numbers had been halved and the final two, No.7808 Cookham Manor of Gloucester, and No.7829 Ramsbury Manor of Didcot, were condemned in December 1965.

Operation in Preservation

Unusually in the preservation movement, all nine of the surviving Manors have operated in preservation at one time or another. Of the nine, four have seen main line operation: Nos. 7802 Bradley Manor, 7808 Cookham Manor, 7812 Erlestoke Manor and 7819 Hinton Manor.

In the 1970s, no. 7808 Cookham Manor was used by the Great Western Society (GWS) to haul nine vintage ex-GWR carriages on an annual outing on the main line from Didcot to Birmingham.

Nos. 7812 Erlestoke Manor and 7819 Hinton Manor were mostly seen on the main line for the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway in 1985 and in the 1980s generally, hauling passenger specials over mainly former GWR routes. This was a part of the Severn Valley Railway's significant mainline operations at that time.

As of February 2012, No. 7802 Bradley Manor is the latest member of the class to be seen on the main line. Despite being only halfway through its period of mainline certification, Bradley Manor did not run on the mainline beyond 2007. This was because in April 2007 new Network Rail standards were introduced, requiring all preserved steam locomotives operating on the mainline to be fitted with on-train monitoring recorders (OTMR). Because it was not planned to put Bradley Manor back on the mainline beyond the end of its then current certification, and because the Erlestoke Manor Fund, its owner was dedicating its finances to the overhaul of the other manor in its care, it was decided to withdraw Bradley Manor when OTMR became compulsory. Bradley Manor did however operate for a grace period until the end of 2007.

Since then no "Manors" have been seen on the main line. No owners of the nine Manors currently plan to return any of their charges to the mainline. The fitting of expensive electrical safety equipment, and the new speed limit brought in for locomotives with driving wheels the size of those on a Manor (60mph) suggest that a mainline return for any Manor is unlikely.

Fiction

• 7802 Bradley Manor appears in the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Locomotives

See List of GWR 7800 Class locomotives for all Manor locomotives built. Nine locomotives have been preserved:

Number	Name	Base	Current Location	Owner	Status
7802	Bradley Manor	Severn Valley Railway	Boiler at SVR, Chassis at Tyseley	Erlestoke Manor Fund	Undergoing Overhaul
7808	Cookham Manor	Didcot Railway Centre	DRC	Great Western Society	Static Display
7812	Erlestoke Manor	Severn Valley Railway	SVR	Erlestoke Manor Fund	Operational
7819	Hinton Manor	Severn Valley Railway	Swindon Designer Outlet	SVR Rolling Stock Trust	Static Display
7820	Dinmore Manor	West Somerset Railway	Tyseley	Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd.	Undergoing Overhaul
7821	Ditcheat Manor	West Somerset Railway	STEAM Museum Swindon	West Somerset Railway Association	Static Display
7822	Foxcote Manor	Llangollen Railway	Llangollen Railway	Foxcote Manor Society	Operational
7827	Lydham Manor	Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway	PDSR	PDSR	Operational
7828	Odney Manor	West Somerset Railway	WSR	WSR	Operational, currently running as 'Norton Manor' in honour of a local Military Base.

Details

7802 Bradley Manor at Kidderminster Town railway station after a southbound Severn Valley Railway journey from Bridgnorth.

Boiler maximum dia.	5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m)
Boiler minimum dia.	4 feet 7+5⁄8 inches (1.413 m)
Boiler length	13 feet 0 5/16 inches
Fire tubes, no. and dia.	158 × 2 inches (51 mm)
Flue tubes, no. and dia.	12 × 5+1⁄8 inches (130 mm)
Superheater tubes, no. and dia.	72 × 1 inch (25 mm)

External links

• GreatWestern.org page
• Dinmore Manor website
• Erlestoke Manor Fund website

References

• Bradley, Rodger (1988). GWR Two Cylinder 4–6–0s and 2–6–0s. Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles Publishers plc. 
• Holcroft, Harold (1971) [1957]. An Outline of Great Western Locomotive Practice 1837-1947 (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0 7110 0228 2. 
• Whitehurst, Brian (1973). Great Western engines, names, numbers, types, classes: 1940 to preservation. Oxford Publishing. pp. 68–69, 103, 128. ISBN 0-902888-21-8. OCLC 815661.