GWR 6800 Class 6880 Betton Grange
Encyclopedia
No.6880 Betton Grange is a steam locomotive
which is presently under construction as a "new-build" project, based on the Llangollen Railway
in Denbighshire
, Wales
. Described as "building the 81st Grange", the project started in 1998, and the locomotive is expected to be operational by 2013. All of the original GWR 6800 Class Grange
locomotives were scrapped by 1968; this project is a creation, from an assemblage of original GWR and newly manufactured components, of a member of this class.
was in charge at Swindon. He took the Churchward proposal, and modified the design of the cab and controls to the then current style.
The 4300 Class
of 2-6-0
tender locomotives had been introduced in 1911, and by 1932 there were 342 in service. With train loads and hence weights rising, these smaller, older and less powerfull locomotives were scheduled to be replaced by new 4-6-0
locomotives by the 1930s.
The Granges were effectively a smaller-wheeled version of the GWR Hall Class. The GWR also built a lighter version of the Granges, the GWR 7800 Class
, known as the Manor Class, which had smaller boilers. Between 1936 and 1939, 100 of the 4300 Class were taken out of service, and stripped of their parts at Swindon Works
. The initial plan was to rebuilt 80 as the 6800 Grange class, whilst the remaining 20 were of the 7800 Manor class. It had eventually been intended to replace all of the 4300 Class in this way in three batches, with the next Grange due to be built No. 6880 Betton Grange, to be named after the manor house in the Shropshire
hamlet of Betton Strange
. But the onset of Second World War
stopped the programme.
The wheels, valve motion and tenders of the Grange were taken from the withdrawn engines, reconditioned and then used in the construction of the 100 new locomotives; with the components from one old locomotive spread amongst more than one of the new engines. The cylinders of both the Granges and Manors were of the same size as those used on the 4300 Class, but the old cylinders could not be re-used because the cylinders and valves shared a common casting, and the new design called for the separation between cylinder and valve centre lines to be increased by 2+1/2 in. This was done in order to make the cylinders level with the axles, but still allow the use of the old valve motion parts.
The 6800 class had driving wheels of 5 in 8 in (1.73 m) diameter, four inches smaller than those of the Hall class. However, as their cylinders were of the same size and the two classes shared the Swindon No. 1 boiler, the Grange had a tractive effort 1,600lb greater than the Hall. Hence, with their power and mixed traffic characteristics, the Grange locomotives could handle most duties on the network. The British Railways power classification of the Grange class was 5MT, its GWR power class was D and its route availability colour code was red. In service they were reliable performers.
The last of the Grange class was withdrawn in 1968, and none were preserved.
in building the LNER Peppercorn Class A1
60163 Tornado
the Llangollen Railway Society explored the possibilty of recreating a new build Grange from existing parts of various locomotives, utilising the "kit of standard bits" construction approach adopted by the GWR.
After the Beeching Axe
, British Railways had sold many of its steam locomotives to a number of privately-owned scrap yards, the most famous of which was Woodham Brothers in Barry Island
, South Wales
. Whilst many of the early locomotives that were recovered from Barry were complete, later examples lacked non-ferrous fittings, pipework and valve gear, and were at worst simply frames, wheels, and a rusty boiler. Purchasers faced the dilemma of restoring their locomotive using newly-fabricated parts, or dismantling it and using the parts to restore other, more complete, examples.
The Grange project represents a third approach, by using parts from scrap locomotives in a new-build project.
The core of the society was formed by the group who had recovered from Barry the GWR 5101 Class Large Prairie
No. 5199 and restored it to operation at Llangollen.
Both the main frames and the cab for No. 6880 were newly fabricated, with cutting commencing in September 2004. The cab was completed in time for the Crewe Works
gathering in 2005.
In 2005 the society acquired the boiler from GWR 6959 "Modified Hall" Class
No. 7927 Willington Hall
. The frames and wheelset from the Hall have been retained by Didcot Railway Centre
to build a GWR 1000 County Class
, another class of GWR locomotive which was not preserved. The society also acquired the spare tender frame from GWR 4900 Class 4936 Kinlet Hall
.
In 2010 the society bought GWR 4900 Hall Class
No. 5952 Cogan Hall
from the Cambrian Railways Trust
. The long term aim is to fully restore this locomotive to operational condition, but in the short term the society have borrowed its bogie and tender for the Grange project, to speed the project to a successful conclusion.
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
which is presently under construction as a "new-build" project, based on the Llangollen Railway
Llangollen Railway
The Llangollen Railway is a volunteer-run preserved railway in Denbighshire, Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Carrog; at long, it is the longest preserved standard gauge line in Wales and operates daily in Summer as well as weekends throughout the Winter months using a wide variety of...
in Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. Described as "building the 81st Grange", the project started in 1998, and the locomotive is expected to be operational by 2013. All of the original GWR 6800 Class Grange
GWR 6800 Class
The Great Western Railway 6800 Class or Grange Class was a mixed traffic class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. There were 80 in the class, all built at the Swindon works.-History:The GWR locomotive standardisation policy pursued by G.J...
locomotives were scrapped by 1968; this project is a creation, from an assemblage of original GWR and newly manufactured components, of a member of this class.
History
The GWR locomotive standardisation policy pursued by G.J. Churchward envisaged a range of locomotive classes which would be suitable for the majority of duties, and yet which would share a small number of standard components. Amongst the designs suggested in 1901 was a 4-6-0 with 5 in 8 in (1.73 m) diameter coupled wheels, and the Standard No. 1 boiler. Although planned in 1901, none were built until 1936, by which time C.B. CollettCharles Collett
Charles Benjamin Collett was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed the GWR's 4-6-0 Castle and King Class express passenger locomotives.-Career:...
was in charge at Swindon. He took the Churchward proposal, and modified the design of the cab and controls to the then current style.
The 4300 Class
GWR 4300 Class
The Great Western Railway 4300 Class is a class of 2-6-0 steam locomotive.- Overview :The class was introduced in 1911 to a G.J. Churchward design. 342 were built until 1932...
of 2-6-0
2-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Mogul...
tender locomotives had been introduced in 1911, and by 1932 there were 342 in service. With train loads and hence weights rising, these smaller, older and less powerfull locomotives were scheduled to be replaced by new 4-6-0
4-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This wheel arrangement became the second-most popular...
locomotives by the 1930s.
The Granges were effectively a smaller-wheeled version of the GWR Hall Class. The GWR also built a lighter version of the Granges, the GWR 7800 Class
GWR 7800 Class
The Great Western Railway 7800 Class or Manor Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. They were designed as a lighter version of the GWR Grange Class, giving them a wider Route Availability. Like the 'Granges', the 'Manors' used parts from the GWR 4300 Class Moguls but just on the first batch...
, known as the Manor Class, which had smaller boilers. Between 1936 and 1939, 100 of the 4300 Class were taken out of service, and stripped of their parts at Swindon Works
Swindon Works
Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire.-History:In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of a railway between London and Bristol. Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.From 1836, Brunel had been buying...
. The initial plan was to rebuilt 80 as the 6800 Grange class, whilst the remaining 20 were of the 7800 Manor class. It had eventually been intended to replace all of the 4300 Class in this way in three batches, with the next Grange due to be built No. 6880 Betton Grange, to be named after the manor house in the Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
hamlet of Betton Strange
Betton Strange
Betton Strange is a hamlet in the English county of Shropshire. It is just south of Shrewsbury, near to the Shrewsbury bypass and the A458.Regional Cycle Route 32/33 runs through, on its way from Shrewsbury to Condover.-External links:...
. But the onset of Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
stopped the programme.
The wheels, valve motion and tenders of the Grange were taken from the withdrawn engines, reconditioned and then used in the construction of the 100 new locomotives; with the components from one old locomotive spread amongst more than one of the new engines. The cylinders of both the Granges and Manors were of the same size as those used on the 4300 Class, but the old cylinders could not be re-used because the cylinders and valves shared a common casting, and the new design called for the separation between cylinder and valve centre lines to be increased by 2+1/2 in. This was done in order to make the cylinders level with the axles, but still allow the use of the old valve motion parts.
The 6800 class had driving wheels of 5 in 8 in (1.73 m) diameter, four inches smaller than those of the Hall class. However, as their cylinders were of the same size and the two classes shared the Swindon No. 1 boiler, the Grange had a tractive effort 1,600lb greater than the Hall. Hence, with their power and mixed traffic characteristics, the Grange locomotives could handle most duties on the network. The British Railways power classification of the Grange class was 5MT, its GWR power class was D and its route availability colour code was red. In service they were reliable performers.
The last of the Grange class was withdrawn in 1968, and none were preserved.
Background
Inspired by the success of the A1 Steam Locomotive TrustA1 Steam Locomotive Trust
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is a Darlington, England based charitable trust formed in 1990 for the primary purpose of completing the next stage of the locomotive heritage movement, the building a new steam locomotive. This project became the construction of 60163 Tornado, carried out by...
in building the LNER Peppercorn Class A1
LNER Peppercorn Class A1
The London and North Eastern Railway Peppercorn Class A1 is a type of express passenger steam locomotive. Forty-nine original Peppercorn Class A1s were built to the design of Arthur Peppercorn during the early British Railways era, but all were scrapped with the discontinuation of steam,...
60163 Tornado
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
60163 Tornado is a main-line steam locomotive built in Darlington, England. Completed in 2008, Tornado was the first such locomotive built in the United Kingdom since Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, in 1960...
the Llangollen Railway Society explored the possibilty of recreating a new build Grange from existing parts of various locomotives, utilising the "kit of standard bits" construction approach adopted by the GWR.
After the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
, British Railways had sold many of its steam locomotives to a number of privately-owned scrap yards, the most famous of which was Woodham Brothers in Barry Island
Barry Island
Barry Island may refer to:*Barry Island , Wales*Barry Island , Antarctica...
, South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
. Whilst many of the early locomotives that were recovered from Barry were complete, later examples lacked non-ferrous fittings, pipework and valve gear, and were at worst simply frames, wheels, and a rusty boiler. Purchasers faced the dilemma of restoring their locomotive using newly-fabricated parts, or dismantling it and using the parts to restore other, more complete, examples.
The Grange project represents a third approach, by using parts from scrap locomotives in a new-build project.
GWR 6880 Betton Grange Project
The 6880 Society (registered charity, no: 1100537) was formed in 1998, with the sole purpose of constructing an operational Grange Class steam locomotive. As the GWR rebuild programme stopped at the end of the first batch of 80 locomotives, assigning a putative name and number to the proposed locomotive was a relatively easy procedure. From GWR records, No. 6880 Betton Grange was the next locomotive scheduled to come off the assembly line at Swindon Works, hence the projected locomotive became known as "the 81st Grange."The core of the society was formed by the group who had recovered from Barry the GWR 5101 Class Large Prairie
GWR 5101 Class
The GWR 5101 Class or Large Prairie was a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway. They were medium-sized tank engines used for suburban and local passenger services all over the Great Western Railway system...
No. 5199 and restored it to operation at Llangollen.
Both the main frames and the cab for No. 6880 were newly fabricated, with cutting commencing in September 2004. The cab was completed in time for the Crewe Works
Crewe Works
Crewe railway works is a British railway engineering facility built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway. It is located in the town of Crewe, in the county of Cheshire....
gathering in 2005.
In 2005 the society acquired the boiler from GWR 6959 "Modified Hall" Class
GWR 6959 Class
The Great Western Railway 6959 Class or Modified Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. They were a development by Frederick Hawksworth of Charles Collett's earlier Hall Class....
No. 7927 Willington Hall
Preserved GWR Modified Hall Class locomotives
This is a list of GWR 6959 Class locomotives that survive in preservation.-6960 Raveningham Hall:The locomotive was built in March 1944 at Swindon Works. Its first shed allocation was Old Oak Common. The locomotive was withdrawn from service in June 1964 and sold to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in...
. The frames and wheelset from the Hall have been retained by Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre, located in the town of Didcot in the English county of Oxfordshire, is based around the site of a comprehensive "engine shed" which became redundant after the nationalisation of the UK railways, due to the gradual changeover from steam to diesel motive power.-Description:The...
to build a GWR 1000 County Class
GWR 1000 Class
The Great Western Railway 1000 Class or County Class was a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. Thirty were built between 1945 and 1947, but all were withdrawn and scrapped in the early 1960s. A replica locomotive is under construction.-Overview:...
, another class of GWR locomotive which was not preserved. The society also acquired the spare tender frame from GWR 4900 Class 4936 Kinlet Hall
GWR 4900 Class 4936 Kinlet Hall
The Great Western Railway steam locomotive no. 4936 Kinlet Hall is a 4-6-0 Hall class locomotive.-Operations:Built in June 1929 at Swindon Works, it was withdrawn from service with British Railways in 1964 and sold for scrap to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales.-Preservation:In 1981,...
.
In 2010 the society bought GWR 4900 Hall Class
GWR 4900 Class
The Great Western Railway 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 mixed traffic steam locomotives designed by Charles Collett. A total of 259 were built, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and 6900–6958. The LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 and LNER Thompson Class B1 both drew heavily on design features...
No. 5952 Cogan Hall
GWR 4900 Class 5952 Cogan Hall
GWR Hall Class 5952 was built at Swindon in December 1935. As a mixed traffic engine it would have handled both passenger duties and freight duties....
from the Cambrian Railways Trust
Cambrian Railways Trust
The Cambrian Railways Trust is based in Suite 1 of the Old Station Building in Oswestry, Shropshire, England.Oswestry was the headquarters of the former Cambrian Railways, previous to the 1922 regrouping of UK railways to form part of The Great Western Railway , one of the "Big Four" railway...
. The long term aim is to fully restore this locomotive to operational condition, but in the short term the society have borrowed its bogie and tender for the Grange project, to speed the project to a successful conclusion.
Kit of bits
- Frames: cut from new metal
- Boiler: obtained from GWR 6959 "Modified Hall" Class No. 7927 Willington Hall
- Driving Wheels: spare set for GWR 4300 Collett "Mogul" ClassGWR 4300 ClassThe Great Western Railway 4300 Class is a class of 2-6-0 steam locomotive.- Overview :The class was introduced in 1911 to a G.J. Churchward design. 342 were built until 1932...
No. 7325, on long term loan agreement from the Severn Valley RailwaySevern Valley RailwayThe Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route...
Society - Front bogie: GWR 4900 Class 5952 Cogan Hall. Presently being restored at Williton worksWilliton railway stationWilliton railway station is a station in Williton, Somerset, England. It was opened by the West Somerset Railway in 1862 and closed by British Rail early in 1971. It was subsequently reopened in 1976 by the present day West Somerset Railway, a heritage line...
on the West Somerset RailwayWest Somerset RailwayThe West Somerset Railway is a railway line that originally linked and in Somerset, England.It opened in 1862 and was extended from Watchet to by the Minehead Railway in 1874. Although just a single track, improvements were needed in the first half of the twentieth century to accommodate the... - Cylinders: casting and machining of a new pair of cylinders, estimated cost of £60,000
- Tender: GWR 4900 Class 5952 Cogan Hall, with later option to rebuild spare frame obtain from No. 4936 Kinlet Hall
- Cab: cut from new metal
Fund raising
The 6880 Society organised two successful "Steel Steam & Stars" gala events in 2007 and 2009, held on the Llangollen Railway, which raised their profile, and funds for the build. The next SSS gala is scheduled to take place in April 2012.Project milestones
- 1998: Project started
- 2004: Frames cut
- 2005: Fabrication of new cab completed
- 2007: "Steel Steam & Stars" gala
- 2009: "Steel Steam & Stars" gala
External links
- 6880 website
- Betton Grange project at the Llangollen RailwayLlangollen RailwayThe Llangollen Railway is a volunteer-run preserved railway in Denbighshire, Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Carrog; at long, it is the longest preserved standard gauge line in Wales and operates daily in Summer as well as weekends throughout the Winter months using a wide variety of...
- Steel Steam & Stars