Power type Steam Operators British Railways Numbers 7820 | Build date November 1950 Class 7800 'Manor' Class | |
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Gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
7820 Dinmore Manor is a British Railways locomotive part of the Manor Class. It is one of nine locomotives preserved from the class, which originally numbered 30.
Named after the ancient 12th century Knights Hospitaller preceptory Dinmore Manor in Herefordshire, the locomotive was built by British Railways at Swindon in 1950, and was initially based at Oswestry. It was withdrawn from service in November 1965 from Shrewsbury, having been the last of its class to run with BR, and moved to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales.
The locomotive was purchased in 1979 by the Gwili Railway and was moved to Bronwydd Arms for restoration. A lack of undercover facilities and funds resulted in very little restoration work being carried out, with the locomotive being sold in 1983.
The engine was eventually restored at the Birmingham Railway Museum, with the West Somerset Railway Company providing a financial 'leg-up' to the owning Dinmore Manor Fund in 1995 to help finish the job. The engine then made its debut on the West Somerset Railway over the summer of 1995, and ran there for nearly 9 years.
The locomotive's first ten-year boiler certificate expired in July 2004, with the engine eventually returning to the Birmingham Railway Museum for overhaul. This was completed in April 2014, and Dinmore Manor subsequently entered service at its new base at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. While it remains based there, the locomotive has visited various other lines since resteaming. In August and September 2014, it worked on the North Norfolk Railway, before revisiting the West Somerset Railway in October. The engine then visited the Great Central Railway at Loughborough in January and February 2016 before returning to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway until July 2015, when the engine went on loan to the Dartmouth Steam Railway until the end of August, before visiting the Severn Valley Railway in November, where it ran alongside its GWR built sisters 7802 and 7812, to mark 50 years since all 3 were among the last 4 members of the class (along with fellow survivor 7821) to be withdrawn by BR in November 1965.