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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.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, with three of the class being preserved at the Severn Valley Railway
The First of the Manors No.7800 ''Torquay Manor'' entered traffic in January 1938 and by February the following year 20 were in service. As mentioned above the used parts from scrapped GWR 4300 Class Moguls these parts
included the driving wheels and motion components, also the tenders were second hand on the first batch of 20. More were planned to be built but the out break of war forced the GWR to cancel the order for a further 20. The official GWR line on the class was that the 7800s were expected to work existing schedules and with existing loadings but with an all round increase in efficiency. Unfortunately for once the make do and mend policy prevalent at Swindon during the 1930s did not succeed. 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. Instead the first examples were despatched to depots at Wolverhampton, Bristol, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Westbury in Wiltshire and Neyland in South Wales.
However the area with which the Manors became synonymous was mid-Wales. Here they worked over the main lines of the erstwhile Cambrian Railway which were off-limits to other 4-6-0 classes. This enduring association began in October 1938 when No.7805 ''Broome Manor'' underwent clearance tests between Ruabon and Barmouth. 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 too and on to the branch lines of Cornwall.
After Nationalization 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 with curiously no attempt to improve the steaming. True with the new standard classes on the drawing boards a British Railway edict permitted construction only of existing pre-nationalization designs. However it is difficult to see how a modified Manor could have been classes as a new design and as 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. A were fitted with the new chimney in 1952 while after trails on ten of the class the other modifications became standard after 1954.
By 1959 21 Manors were congregated in mid and south Wales. Undoubtedly their most prestigious working was the Cambrian Coast Express which 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. However as stated above nine have been preserved.

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Reference

Details

Number	Name	Notes
7800	''Torquay Manor''
7801	''Anthony Manor''
7802	''Bradley Manor''	Preserved at the Severn Valley Railway
7803	''Barcote Manor''
7804	''Baydon Manor''
7805	''Broome Manor''
7806	''Cockington Manor''
7807	''Compton Manor''
7808	''Cookham Manor''	Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre
7809	''Childrey Manor''
7810	''Draycott Manor''
7811	''Dunley Manor''
7812	''Erlestoke Manor''	Preserved at the Severn Valley Railway
7813	''Freshford Manor''
7814	''Fringford Manor''
7815	''Fritwell Manor''
7816	''Frilsham Manor''
7817	''Garsington Manor''
7818	''Granville Manor''
7819	''Hinton Manor''	Preserved at the Severn Valley Railway
7820	''Dinmore Manor''	Preserved at West Somerset Railway
7821	''Ditcheat Manor''	Preserved at Cambrian Railways Trust
7822	''Foxcote Manor''	Preserved at Llangollen Railway
7823	''Hook Norton Manor''
7824	''Iford Manor''
7825	''Lechlade Manor''
7826	''Longworth Manor''
7827	''Lydham Manor''	Preserved at Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway
7828	''Odney Manor''	Preserved at West Somerset Railway
7829	''Ramsbury Manor''

External links

★ GreatWestern.org page

★ Dinmore Manor Fund website

Reference

★ Classic British Steam locomotives