Foxcote Manor Society, And the Kent and East Sussex Railway largest locomotive to visit the line

Day 6 of foxy on the KESR

The Great Western Railway steam locomotive no. 7822 Foxcote Manor is a 4-6-0 Manor Class locomotive, built in 1950 at Swindon Works. It is part of a post-war batch of 10 locomotives, which follows on from 20 earlier locomotives built in 1938.

FOXCOTE MANOR STEAMING OUT OF TENTERDEN

The locomotive was originally allocated to Oswestry depot, where it was used to haul both passenger and freight services over lines such as the Cambrian Line and the now-closed Ruabon Barmouth Line. It regularly hauled the "Cambrian Coast Express" from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth. It was also allocated to Chester shed during its lifespan.




It was withdrawn in 1965 from Shrewsbury and was towed to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales.It languished there until 1974 when it was rescued for preservation. It was initially taken to Oswestry for restoration work, but is now based on the Llangollen Railway, a restored part of the Ruabon Barmouth Line, and it has seen regular services on the Llangollen Railway and has been on loan to the West Somerset Railway, Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway, South Devon Railway, Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, Great Central Railway (Nottingham) and even The North Yorkshire Moors Railway.


7822 returned to service in early 2016 following heavy boiler repairs and can be seen regularly operating at Llangollen.

BR(W) 0-6-0PT No 1638 pannier tank steaming through the Morghew park eastate Tenterden

History
The 16xx class of pannier tanks was the last GWR locomotive design to appear, in BR days, and replaced earlier pannier tanks.

They were built to a restricted loading gauge, which allowed them to work on lines with low bridges. Most were allocated to Wales, although two, remarkably, ended up in Scotland and others were allocated to Cornwall.

Sole survivor No. 1638 was built by BR at Swindon in 1951, being allocated to Llanelli shed to work the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley line. She was withdrawn from Croes Newydd in North Wales in August 1966 after that shed had been transferred from the Western Region to the London Midland Region of British Railways. 

She was purchased privately and travelled to Buckfastleigh in November 1967 and was a regular performer on the line.

When the South Devon Railway Trust took over operation of the line in 1991, 1638 was hired from its owners, the Dart Valley Railway Co, and operated the first trains under SDR auspices. 

In 1992, the DVR decided to put the locomotive up for sale. The newly formed SDRT did not have the wherewithal to purchase this unique engine and she was subsequently sold to the Kent & East Sussex Railway where she can be see today ...

U.SA Tank of the Kent and East Sussex Railway No. 65 ,DS 237 No. 22. climbing Tenterden bank

Built for the United States Army Corps of Engineers as No 1968, and sent to the UK under Lend-Lease. Stored at Newbury Racecourse. One of fourteen purchased by the Southern Railway and sent to the Melbourne Military Railway for running in. Entered service with the Southern Railway in November 1947 as USA Class number 65. Renumbered 30065 by British Railways. Worked at Southampton Docks. Withdrawn, and entered Departmental service as DS237 at Ashford Wagon Works. Withdrawn in April 1967 and sold to Woodham Brothers, Barry, Wales in March 1968. Developed a hot box en route and dumped at Tonbridge. Sold to K&ESR in August 1968 and delivered the next month. arriving at Rolvenden a month later became  DS 237 No. 22.

No. 22 was the first large locomotive in service in 1974, proving itself very capable of hauling five coach trains up Tenterden bank. She was fitted with an extended bunker and a improved lubrication to overcome its bearing problems. In 1978 it exchanged boilers with No. 21 and after overhaul re-entered service in April 1981 in black livery lined out in red. Various mechanical problems occurred and were overcome before the boiler certificate again expired and the locomotive was taken out of traffic at the end of the 1990 season. Another extensive overhaul followed, the locomotive re-entering service as Southern Railway No. 65 in the summer of 1997. Its original post-war livery of black with sunshine lettering was now carried. However by 2002 a new firebox was required. This was fitted and a further overhaul undertaken the engine returning to service in 2008. has been  withdraw service on 1st January 2017 when its boiler certificate expired