About the calendar image

GWR No.7812 ‘Erlestoke Manor’ leaves Bewdley, crossing Sandbourne Viaduct with a passenger service for Kidderminster. Taken during the 2025 Spring Steam Gala on the 20th April.

Great Western No.7812 ‘Erlestoke Manor’ returned to steam in 2022 and is currently visiting the West Somerset Railway.

Locomotive history:

Built at Swindon Works in 1939, GWR 7812 Erlestoke Manor is a member of Charles Collett’s 7800 ‘Manor’ Class, a mixed traffic 4-6-0 design developed to provide powerful yet lightweight locomotives for routes with restricted axle loads. Named after Erlestoke Manor in Wiltshire, No.7812 spent its working life across the former Great Western Railway network, including duties in the West Country, South Wales and the Welsh border counties, before withdrawal from British Railways service in 1965.
Rescued from Woodham Brothers’ scrapyard at Barry in 1973, the locomotive was purchased by the newly formed Erlestoke Manor Fund and moved to the Severn Valley Railway, where restoration was completed. Returning to steam in 1979, No.7812 has become one of the railway’s most recognisable locomotives, hauling thousands of passenger trains and representing the successful preservation of the popular Manor Class design. Following its latest major overhaul, it returned to service in 2022 and continues to operate on heritage railways.