GWR 6800 Class 6880 Betton Grange
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No.6880 ''Betton Grange'' is a
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
which is under construction as a "new-build" project, originally based on the
Llangollen Railway The Llangollen Railway () is a volunteer-run heritage railway in Denbighshire, North Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that c ...
in
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, then subsequently at
Tyseley Locomotive Works Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 19 ...
. Described as "building the 81st Grange", the project started in 1998, and the locomotive was earlier expected to be operational by 2013, but subsequently by Autumn 2021. All of the original GWR 6800 Class ''Grange'' locomotives were withdrawn for scrap by the end of 1965; this project is a creation, from an assemblage of original GWR and newly manufactured components, of a member of this class.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 diameter coupled wheels, and the Standard No. 1 boiler. Although planned in 1901, none were built until 1936, by which time C.B. Collett 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 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 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. ...
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 powerful locomotives were scheduled to be replaced by new
4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...
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 The Great Western Railway (GWR) 7800 Class or Manor Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. They were designed as a lighter version of the Grange Class, giving them a wider Route Availability. Like the 'Granges', the 'Manors' used parts fro ...
, 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 railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of the ...
. The initial plan was to rebuild 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 (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
hamlet of
Betton Strange Betton Strange is a hamlet in the English county of Shropshire. It is only south of Shrewsbury town centre, situated in countryside just beyond the Shrewsbury bypass (the A5) and near the A458. It is located in the civil parish of Berrington ...
. However, the onset of
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
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 . 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 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 1,600 lb 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 British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
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, No. 6872 ''Crawley Grange'' was withdrawn and scrapped in 1965, and none were preserved.


Background

Inspired by the success of the
A1 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 of a new steam locomotive from scratch (i.e. not ...
in building the LNER Peppercorn Class A1
60163 Tornado LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No. 60163 ''Tornado'' is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn. It is the first new build British mainline steam locomotive since 1960, and the only Peppercorn Class A ...
the Llangollen Railway Society explored the possibility 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 The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
, 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 Woodham Brothers Ltd is a trading business, based mainly around activities and premises located within Barry Docks, in Barry, Wales, Barry, South Wales. It is noted globally for its 1960s activity as a scrapyard (hence its colloquial name of Bar ...
in
Barry Island Barry Island ( cy, Ynys y Barri) is a district, peninsula and seaside resort, forming part of the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is named after the 6th century Saint Baruc. Barry's stretch of coast, on the Bristol Chann ...
,
South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
. 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
scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
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 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 is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lot ...
gathering in 2005. In 2005 the society acquired the boiler from GWR 6959 "Modified Hall" Class No. 7927 ''Willington Hall''. The frames and wheelsets from the bogie and tender from the Hall have been retained by
Didcot Railway Centre Didcot Railway Centre is a railway museum and preservation engineering site in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. The site was formerly a Great Western Railway engine shed and locomotive stabling point. Background The founders and commercial backers ...
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.


Kit of bits

*Frames: cut from new metal *Boiler: obtained from GWR 6959 "Modified Hall" Class No. 7927 ''Willington Hall'' (Currently paired with 5952's boiler as template to aid with manufacturing of parts for 6880's eventual boiler) *Driving wheels: The spare wheelsets for GWR 4300 Collett "Mogul" Class No. 7325, on long-term loan agreement from the
Severn Valley Railway The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The heritage line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route, and c ...
Society. These wheels were re-tyred at the South Devon Railway. *Front bogie: borrowed from
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 for the Great Western Railway. A total of 259 were built at Swindon Works, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 ...
5952 ''Cogan Hall''; being restored at Williton works on the
West Somerset Railway The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
*Cylinders: casting and machining of a new pair of cylinders, estimated cost of £60,000 *Tender: borrowed from GWR 4900 Class 5952 ''Cogan Hall'', with later option to rebuild spare frame obtain from No. 4936 ''Kinlet Hall'' (Will use 3814's tender till own is completed) *Cab: cut from new metal


Project milestones

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See also

* Steam locomotives of the 21st century **
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No. 60163 ''Tornado'' is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn. It is the first new build British mainline steam locomotive since 1960, and the only Peppercorn Class A ...
**
LMS Patriot Class 5551 The Unknown Warrior No.5551 ''The Unknown Warrior'' is a replica LMS Patriot Class steam locomotive which is under construction in the Midland Railway – Butterley's West Shed. The locomotive is a replica of the final 'Patriot' class locomotive to be built, ...
**
Pennsylvania Railroad 5550 Pennsylvania Railroad 5550 (PRR 5550) is a mainline duplex drive steam locomotive under construction in the United States. With an estimated completion by 2030, the locomotive will become the 53rd example of the Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 st ...


References

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External links


6880 website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804035842/http://www.llangollen-railway.org.uk/slocobettongrange.html , date=4 August 2012 at the
Llangollen Railway The Llangollen Railway () is a volunteer-run heritage railway in Denbighshire, North Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that c ...

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