The following has been gleaned from the February edition of On Line
Ran 8516 miles in 2000, total since 1995 restoration 47,877.. Winter works include refurbishment of the screw reverser and replacement of the worn front and rear shackles whilst some steel injector pipework is to be replaced with copper. More apparent to the casual eye will be long awaited fitting of the brass splasher fittings and cab edging trips.
Updated: 11 February 2001
(extracted from the WSR Stock Book 5th Edition and reproduced here with the permission of the author, Keith Smith)
Designed by C.B. Collett, the 'Manor' Class 4-6-0's were introduced by the Great Western Railway in 1938. They were a lighter-weight version of the 'Hall' and 'Grange' Classes, the first twenty incorporating parts from a batch of withdrawn Churchward 2-6-0's. The 'Manors were built at Swindon Works in two batches - Nos 7800-19 in 1938-39, followed by Nos 7820-29 in 1950. The new standard No 14 boiler was used in their construction, but initially it was never found to be a good steamer, until trials with No 7818 during 1951-52 showed up serious draughting problems. Once this was rectified, the 'Manors' performed very successfully, seeing widespread use on both the Cambrian section in Wales and in the West Country.
No 7820 Dinmore Manor was the first of the BR-built 78XX's to be built, and was turned out from Swindon in November 1950 (Lot No 377, Diagram A9) at a cost of £10,479, being fitted with boiler No 6422. Its initial allocation was to Oswestry, where it worked local services over the Cambrian lines, in particular the routes from Whitchureh to Welshpool and Aberystwyth, and from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth. A brief move to Aberystwyth shed occurred in August 1952, prior to returning to Oswestry two months later. In December 1953, No 7820 moved on to Chester, where it would have worked over the 'North and West' route to Shrewsbury and on the Wrexham-Barmouth and Chester-Pwllheli workings. Between March and May 1953, the locomotive received a Heavy Intermediate repair at Stafford Road Works (Wolverhampton).
In December 1954, Dinmore Manor moved to the West Country, working from Plymouth Laira shed. Its duties here included piloting main line expresses over the steeply-graded South Devon banks between Plymouth and Newton Abbot, replacing the ageing GWR 'Bulldog' 4-4-0's on this work. No 7820 also strayed from its home area on a number of occasions, even being noted on an excursion at Portsmouth during the summer of 1958! The locomotive was subsequently moved to Truro in September 1959 and St Blazey in June 1960. During its time in the West Country, it received a Heavy General repair in October-November 1955 (when boiler No 6413 was fitted) and a Heavy Intermediate overhaul in mid-1958. Both carried out at Swindon.
No 7820 was transferred to Cardiff Canton in September 1960, moving to Cardiff East Dock exactly a year later. It received a further Heavy General repair at Swindon in early 1961, when boiler No 6421 was fitted. The 'Manor' moved further north to Shrewsbury (Salop) in April 1963, where it performed on a variety of duties on the former Cambrian lines in mid-Wales. Its last major repair, a Heavy General, was carried out at Swindon between November 1963 and January 1964, receiving boiler No 6417 (which was fitted new to No 7817 Garsington Manor in November 1938). No 7820 was eventually condemned at Oxley (Wolverhampton) on November 6 1965, its recorded mileage (to 31.12.63) being 421,268.
Like most of the other ex-BR steam locomotives currently based on the WSR, Dinmore Manor was sold to Woodhams scrapyard at Barry, arriving in May 1966. Interestingly, it became the first locomotive at Barry to carry a WSR reservation, but this option was not taken up because of the purchase of the three 'Small Prairie' tanks (Nos 4561, 5521 and 5542) instead. However, in 1978 No 7820 was acquired by the Gwili Railway, arriving there during September 1979, where cosmetic restoration only was carried out. Financial problems resulted in the 4-6-0 being put on the market in 1984, when it was purchased by the 'Dinmore Manor Fund', set up by members of the 3850 Preservation Society, with individual shares valued at £500 each.
Dinmore Manor was delivered from the Gwili Railway to Bishops Lydeard on March 15 1985. After a period in store, and with efforts being concentrated on No 3850, agreement was reached for a contract restoration to be undertaken at the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley, the locomotive departing on September 25 1990. Whilst there, No 7820 was completely stripped down to its component parts. Progress was such that the frames were rewbeeled by March 1993, with the boiler being lifted back into the frames on September 9 1994.
No 7820 was delivered to the WSR on September 6 1995 and, after running-in trials had been completed, entered regular passenger service later that month. It has already proved itself to be a very popular addition to the steam fleet.