The GWR Manor Class

Rather more than timescales, it depends on fundraising. The only way to get out of the queue these days appears to be to bring a large pot of money to the table or do part or all of the work yourself (see the planned turnaround of 2857 for example). The railway simply can't afford to do "free overhauls" any more, hence the number of locos out of ticket for over 20 years and with no apparent prospects of overhaul any time soon.

7819 is owned by the Charitable Trust so in the wider sense is a "company loco" like Gordon. The Railway as a whole would therefore have to look to the Charitable Trust to fund a large part of its overhaul. The Charitable Trust does have a Restricted Fund for its overhaul but it currently stands at just £31k as of the last published accounts, so it would need a major fund raising drive. Would that be the best thing for the Trust to focus on? With two other Manors already in steam and getting regular overhauls, it probably wouldn't be seen as a big attraction to have a third other than to a handful of enthusiasts.

Just my personal POV.

 

Not wanting to upset the apple cart but I’ve often wondered about the svr overhaul queue and the fact that some of the engines have been there in store for many many years. Unlike today I’m assuming that the owning groups back then had more of a handshake in agreeing running agreements (common on many railways in the early days) where by the railway would run the engine free of charge and then undertake an overhaul. Whilst the railways benefitted, some of these locos are now so tired that the overhaul cost is huge and let’s face it most railways don’t have any spare cash nowadays!

 

Most heritage lines have far more locomotives than they need to run the services. Its wasteful to have more locomotives than one needs in service, so its inevitable that locomotives will spend long periods in store/on display. I did a finger in the air calculation for GWS Didcot a few years ago, and while I forget the exact numbers, ISTR it worked out that the interval between boiler tickets for their fleet ought to be well in excess of twenty years.

 

I visited Didcot yesterday - a non-running day with very few people around.

Looking around the running shed, two of the usual residents appeared to be missing - 1466 and 7808 Cookham Manor.

According to a blackboard in the shed, 1466 is "requiring work", so I guess it is in the workshop - which was not open, so I couldn't check.

But another display board showed 7808 under a "Locos under Restoration" heading. That would imply that it is at least being considered for overhaul. Can anyone confirm whether that is true or false?

 

I wonder if it’s a cosmetic restoration, wasn’t the same planned for 5322?

 

5322 I think is complete, some pics appeared on Facebook last week. Looks stunning, shame it's not operational.

Last time I was at Didcot was approx 5-6 years ago and 7808 was looking quite scruffy then, so a cosmetic restoration probably wouldn't go amiss.

Chris