The Manor Class of 4-6-0s arrived in 1938,
built to a Collett design for a two-cylinder mixed traffic engine.It was Colletts final 4-6-0 design for the GWR and his least successful
as originally built.Like Stanier
on the LMS, Collett’s policy was to replace existing designs with a number
of 4-6-0s of mixed traffic capabilities.With an axle loading of just over 17 tons the Manor’s were suitable
for use over the routes where the larger Grange Class were barred.The first 20 engines of the Class used the wheels and motion removed
from withdrawn Churchward 4300 Class Moguls.A new No 14 standard boiler was designed for the locomotive, and in order
to reduce weight it was both shorter and smaller than the Grange Class.
However, the new boiler proved to be a poor steam producer and in
1951/2 various tests with sister Manor No.7818 were carried out.This led to a modifying of the blastpipe diameter, and its distance
from the chimney, together with the fitting of a new design of narrower
chimney.After which the performance of the Class was transformed. The original allocation of the
Manors was for work over the Banbury-Cheltenham-Swansea section used by
through trains from the North East, and over the Devizes line. During the war
years they were seen at Oswestry and were the first 4-6-0s allowed over the
Cambrian Route. Under British Railways the Manors
were classed as 5MT and initially outshopped in lined black livery. Later they
were finished in the plain BR black livery with the lion and wheel totem.
The first of the class to be withdrawn was No. 7809 Childrey Manor, in
1963 and the last was No.7829 Ramsbury Manor which went
in 1965.
