GWR 7800 Class

The GWR 7800 Class, known as the Manor Class, is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotives designed as a lighter version of the Grange Class, giving them a wider route availability for cross-country and branch line duties barred to heavier engines. Like the Granges, the first batch of twenty reused wheels and motion parts from withdrawn GWR 4300 Class Moguls. The first, 7800 Torquay Manor, was built at Swindon Works and entered traffic in January 1938, and twenty were in service by February 1939. After nationalisation the Western Region of British Railways added ten more at Swindon in 1950. The locomotives were named after manors in the area covered by the GWR, and nine are preserved.