Alex Coomber
Here's a story about this Steam Locomotive. This Steam Loco is a Manor Class 4-6-0 No. 7812 Erlestoke Manor. Pure Great Western here as Erlestoke Manor is seen on the turntable at Shrewsbury in 1962. This Collett engine was built for the GWR at Swindon Works in January 1939. It last main line shed was this one. Shrewsbury from where it was withdrawn in November 1965. No. 7812 Erlestoke Manor was one of the 4 GWR built Manors to be preserved instead being sent to the Woodham Brothers Scrapyard in Barry where it quietly decomposed until it was rescued by the Erlestoke Manor Fund in 1974. After an overhaul. It entered service on the Severn Valley Railway in 1979. It is currently owned by the Erlestoke Manor Fund and is operational on the SVR.