GWR Manor Class

Description

The ‘Manor’ or 7800 Class locomotives were designed and built by GWR and 20 were produced in the late 1930s, just in time to aid the British war effort. The design incorporated GWR’s almost customary 4-6-0 wheel arrangement and the class was considered so good that BR built a further ten machines at Swindon in 1950. All the loco's in this pack apart from Erlestoke Manor belong to this second batch.

All the locomotives were, as you might expect, named after manor houses in the British countryside, mostly those on or near the Great Western Railway network.

The locomotives were designed to be a lighter version of the Grange Class, mainly to allow them to work on lines such as the Cambrian and other weight-restricted routes. This didn’t mean, however, that they only worked on secondary lines – they could occasionally be seen hauling prestige expresses when more powerful locomotives were not available.

This GWR Manor class is pack is British Railways and preservation themed and all the models have the later style of un-lipped chimney.

GWR Manor Class

Manor Class locomotives were a perfect mixed-traffic design and were as happy hauling a coal train as they were a seven-coach stopping train. Although not a hugely powerful design, the locomotives were well liked and indeed 29 of the 30 built made it to 1964/5 (virtually the end of UK steam operations) which undoubtedly helped nine members of the class make it into preservation.

In their early years the 7800 Class loco’s could be found across much of the GWR system, but by the end of the 1950s virtually all operations were concentrated in South or Mid Wales, where steam power hung on for a little longer than on the main lines.

By the time the Manors came into service the beautiful fully lined GWR livery was no more, but Lydham Manor carried this non-authentic livery in preservation and is presented in this pack in that form.

Datasheet