Dinmore Manor joins select band after clocking 100,000 preservation miles

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AUGUST 7 was a red letter day for Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd’s flagship engine No. 7820 Dinmore Manor when the Collett 4-6-0 passed the 100,000 miles in preservation mark.

No. 7820 joins a select group of locos to achieve this milestone, which includes classmates Erlestoke Manor and Bradley Manor, Stanier Mogul No. 42968 and ‘B1’ No. 61264, having passed the
six-figure barrier while on hire to the West Somerset Railway (WSR).

John Sparks (left), a former DMLL company secretary, and Andrew Butler – a former treasurer – stand with No. 7820 at Minehead on the occasion of it passing the 100,000 miles in preservation barrier on August 7. MARTIN GINGER

No. 7820 is now based at the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway, but the 100,000 represents the equivalent of 2,500 round trips between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead on the WSR, where the loco has recorded the majority of the miles accumulated since returning to service after restoration in 1995.

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In honour of the occasion, members of the owning group made the journey to Minehead to ride ‘their’ loco, which sported a specially commissioned ‘100,000 Miles in Preservation’ headboard.

■ The total number of miles clocked up by Dinmore Manor since entering service on November 20, 1950 is unclear, owing to British Railways’ failure to keep accurate mileage records for locomotives up until the end of steam. It is known No. 7820 had reached 421,268 miles by January 1964, so it has certainly passed the 500,000 miles in total service.

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