7827 Lydham Manor GWR Lined Green (preserved)
Described as the ‘flagship’ of the Dartmouth Steam Railway, ‘Manor’ 4-6-0 No. 7827 Lydham Manor was one of five members of the class to be prepared to work the Royal Train and associated empty stock duties in August 1963 as well as being the first of the ex-Barry Island 78XXs to return to steam, having only been preceded by No. 7808 Cookham Manor, which was sold to preservationists in full working order. Withdrawn in October 1965 and only the fifth locomotive to leave Woodham Brothers’ scrapyard in South Wales, it moved to Newton Abbot for restoration on 13 June 1970 by Class 37 No. 6879 and then ‘Warship’ No. 856 Trojan. The British Railways-built ‘Manor’ returned to steam in March 1973 and made its first solo runs on the DVR’s newly acquired Torbay Steam Railway (later renamed the DSR) between Paignton and Kingswear on 27 April 1973. Even though it was delivered almost two years after the Great Western Railway was nationalised, for the start of its preservation career No. 7827 was restored to the iconic fully-lined pre-1934 livery with GREAT WESTERN on the tender, despite the class never carrying this scheme, the pre-WWII first batch being outshopped in green with no lining and the ‘shirtbutton’ monogram. This no doubt delighted the hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers who enjoyed haulage behind the locomotive for four decades until it was repainted into its as-delivered lined black in 2011. It was taken out of service in 2020 for a lengthy overhaul at Churston that saw it return as the pride of the DSR fleet in lined British Railways green in 2024