To the Manors drawn
With some finely retooled OOscale models of the GWR Manor 4-6-0s under development and due on sale before the year is out, Pete Kelly looks back on these feisty locomotives, and the nine which survive to this day.
With some finely retooled OO-scale models of the Great Western Railway Manor 4-6-0s under development and due on sale before the year is out, Pete Kelly looks back on these feisty little locomotives, and the nine from a class of 30 which survive to this day.
UNQUESTIONABLY the daintiest of the GWR's named 4-6-0 locomotives were the 7800 Class Manors that were introduced under Charles Collett in 1938 to operate over some of the company's most severely weight-restricted routes and branch lines as well as taking on main line duties, including assisting heavy trains over the challenging Devon banks.
With an axle loading of just over 17 tons, the Manors were essentially lighter versions of the 6800 Class Grange 4-6-0s which had appeared two years earlier, and both classes utilised the 5ft 8in driving wheels and motion parts from withdrawn 4300 Class moguls, although in the case of the Manors, this applied only to the initial batch of 20 built by the GWR in 1938/9.
Although many people mistakenly equate tractive effort with power (the measurement is rather one of adhesion), the 27,340lb of the Manors compares favourably with the 25,455lb of the Stanier ‘Black Fives' and the 26,880lb of the Thompson B1s, and certainly contributed to sure-footed getaways.
Fitted with smaller Swindon No. 14 boilers working to the same 225psi steam pressure as those on the Granges, the Manors had cylinder dimensions of 18 x 30in compared with the larger locomotives' 18½ x 30in, but although the 7800s had a distinct power advantage over the Churchward 4300s dating back to 1911 that preceded them, their initial steaming still left something to be desired.
Almost certainly the GWR would have put matters right had it not been for the outbreak of the Second World War, but in the event it was left to BR, which gave the Manors a 5MT power classification, to tackle the issue.
Although a further 20 Manors had been planned, the war halted their construction, and by the time production resumed at Swindon Works under British Railways in 1950, the batch was reduced to 10, even though the names had been chosen for all 20. Therefore, we never got to see Nos. 7830 Norton Manor, 7831 Ogwell Manor, 7832 Pimley Manor, 7833 Ramsbury Manor, 7834 Radley Manor, 7835 Standen Manor, 7836 Sutton Manor, 7837 Thornton Manor, 7838 Widford Manor or 7839 Wilcote Manor.
The name Norton Manor did reappear, however, when the West Somerset Railway, which had owned No. 7828 Odney Manor since 2004, renamed the locomotive in honour of 40 Commando's base alongside the railway at Norton Fitzwarren on June 17, 2011.
No. 7828 is one of no fewer than nine Manors which have survived into preservation, where their high powerto-weight ratio is just perfect for Britain's network of heritage railways. In build-date order, these are No. 7802
Bradley Manor (January 1938), 7808
Cookham Manor (March 1938), 7812
Erlestoke Manor (January 1939), 7819
Hinton Manor (February 1939), 7820 Dinmore Manor and 7821 Ditcheat Manor (November 1950), 7822 Foxcote Manor, 7827 Lydham Manor and 7828 Odney Manor/Norton Manor (December 1950).
The Manors were a common sight when I started visiting Chester as a young locospotter around 1957, and the first one I ever saw, No. 7822
Foxcote Manor, was such a picture of elegance, with polished brass and
copper enhancing its finely sculpted lines, that it left a lasting impression on me. It came as no surprise while researching this feature to learn that this locomotive spent its entire BR lifetime on the former Cambrian Railways system, being shedded at Oswestry (89A), Chester (84K) and Croes Newydd (84J), with a final brief spell at Shrewsbury (84G) before withdrawal. Other 78XX 4-6-0s I fondly remember jotting down at Chester were Nos. 7802 Bradley Manor, 7808 Cookham Manor, 7819 Hinton Manor, 7823 Hook Norton Manor and 7827 Lydham Manor.
In February 1954, the lastmentioned of these underwent draughting improvement trials that ultimately gave the entire class, including those built at Swindon from 1938 onwards, a notably peppier performance. One outward sign of these improvements was a narrower chimney that not only added to the engines' elegance but also gave a much sharper exhaust blast.
As an example of the huge debt owed by the heritage railway movement to the late Dai Woodham, it's worth noting that no fewer than eight of the nine preserved Manors were rescued from the Barry scrapyard, the sole exception being No. 7808 Cookham Manor, which was bought directly from British Railways by John Mynors of the Great Western Society.
While it's interesting to follow the locomotive sheds where the Manors were based during their GWR/BR careers, from Laira (83D), Banbury (84C) and Leamington (84D) to Newton Abbot (83A), Gloucester (85B), Neyland (87H), Croes Newydd (84J) and Machynlleth (89C), they have now spent more years in preservation than they ever did in their original lives, and it can be even more intriguing to chart their movements on transfer or loan from one heritage site to another.
Take No. 7821 Ditcheat Manor, for instance. Built in November 1950 at Swindon Works, its first shed was Oswestry (89A) and it also spent time at Tyseley (84E), Newton Abbot (83A) and Oxley (84B). After being withdrawn from its final shed, Shrewsbury (84G) in November 1965, it stood in the grim lines at Barry for 15 years until it was finally rescued in 1980.
After first arriving at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (G/WR), it was moved around to places including Llangollen, and its restoration was not completed until 1998, when it first ran on the West Somerset Railway. After a spell working on the Great Central Railway, it went to the Cambrian Railways Trust and then the Churnet Valley Railway in 2005, before the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) bought it from its private owner in 2007.
Ditcheat Manor subsequently moved to the Great Western Museum at Swindon under a static display contract after its new owners realised the full extent of the frame and boiler work that an intended overhaul would entail, and how long it would take to gather the funds together.
Many of the other surviving Manors have moved between heritage railways in a similar fashion, some spending periods on the main line (such as Bradley Manor) as well, but with locomotives as thoroughly useful as these, such convoluted movements are readily understood, and the heritage railway movement is all the richer for their presence.
The models
Both Dapol and Accurascale are working on newly tooled OO-scale models of the Manors with launch dates expected to be in the final quarter of this year.
Dapol has unveiled a fully functioning engineering prototype, which has all of its electronics installed. When the design engineer and technical manager have finished their evaluation, it will be shipped to the sound engineer to help tweak the sound profile to the aesthetics of this specific model.
The forthcoming models will carry many of the features and benefits first showcased in Dapol's OO-scale 4300 Class 2-6-0, along with the manufacturer's award-winning PCB and the tried-and-tested
easy-connect, wire-free, tender-to locomotive electrical draw bar. The inclusion of these features will make converting your model to DCC or DCC and sound easy.
The gearing in both the Manor and forthcoming prairie model has been adjusted to a 30:1 ratio that will provide excellent slow-speed running as well as accurate top speeds, and the crosshead boasts improved detail along with the accurately portrayed die-cast motion bracket and slide bars. A working representation of the vacuum pump is also fitted as standard.
Refinements on the Manors will include a die-cast compensated chassis, a detailed cab interior with screw reverse, full profile cylinders with no cut-away, a sprung front bogie operating on a cam so that the model will negotiate radius-two curves with ease, a brass-plated safety-valve casing, original (with capucheon) and redraughted chimneys fitted as appropriate, and exquisite detailing on the buffer beam and footplate with prototypical overhang.
No fewer than 12 wheels split between the locomotive and tender have electrical pick-ups, enhanced by the sprung centre driving wheels. A ‘sugar cube' is mountable on the slide-out PCB board, and a base reflex speaker can be housed in the tender. An audio frequency filter is integrated within the main locomotive PCB to ensure that each speaker responds within its ideal frequency range. Drive is by Dapol's slow-speed, high-torque five-pole skew-wound motor.
The engineering prototype is fitted with the tender developed for the mogul, with a removable coal load to reveal an accurately portrayed rendition of the internal tender profile, but a flush-riveted tender body and Collett strengthening frames are currently in the tooling shop.
It is proposed that the first production-run Manor models will comprise eight variants: No. 7800
Torquay Manor in GWR green with monogram emblems; No. 7814
Fringford Manor in GWR green with GWR initials; No. 7807 Compton Manor in GWR green and GW initials separated by Great Western coat of arms; No. 7823 Hook Norton Manor in BR black with small early BR crests; No. 7819 Hinton Manor in BR black with large early crests; No. 7810
Draycott Manor in BR green with small early BR crests; and No. 7827 Lydham Manor in BR green with late BR crests.
An exclusive model that will be available only from Dapol itself or the G/WR, will be that of No. 7820 Dinmore Manor in BR black with small early BR crests, and a proportion of each sale will go to the G/WR.
Proposed recommended retail prices of Dapol's Manors will be £159.95 DCC ready, £185.95 DCC fitted and £259.95 sound fitted, but please note that the sound-fitted models will not go to the retailers, and must be bought directly from Dapol.
The Accurascale Manors will feature detailed cabs with separately fitted parts, sprung metal buffers, buffer beam detailing and dummy screw-link couplings, digital and sound capability with a 21-pin socket, a flickering firebox effect (synchronised with sound on DCC), all-wheel electrical pick-ups on body and tender, a diecast chassis, running plate and body, kinetic NEM couplings and a threepole motor with flywheel.
Era-specific details will include ‘plain' or ‘webbed' driving wheels, tapered or straight buffer housings, detail tender variations and optional overhead warning plate brackets on late BR examples. Although Accurascale has an initial engineering sample, it is still subject to change and not fully representative of the final models.
There are also a number of detail configurations which makes almost every Accurascale Manor model a bespoke ‘one off' release, with options for chimney, smokebox and boiler sides, smokebox door/handles and buffers. The range of tenders is similarly complex with different tender bodies, frames, spring hangers and buffers – plus the frame installed in latter days to remind crews not to climb onto the coal space while on overhead electrified lines.
With prices of £169.99 for the plain models or £259.99 with digital sound fitted, these will comprise No. 7800 Torquay Manor in BR lined green with late crests; No. 7801 Anthony Manor in GWR green with shirt-button emblems; No. 7808 Cookham Manor in GWR green with shirt-button emblems as preserved; No. 7810 Draycott Manor in BR lined green with early emblems; No. 7812 Erlestoke Manor in BR lined green with late crests; No. 7814 Fringford Manor in BR unlined black with early emblems; No. 7818 Granville Manor in GWR green with postwar GW lettering; No. 7819 Hinton Manor in GWR green with postwar GWR lettering; and No. 7820 Dinmore Manor in BR lined black with early emblems.