'GRANGE' EXPECTATIONS
With new-build Betton Grange having finally been completed, Steam Railway looks at a project that’s been decades in the making.
Had history played out slightly differently, No. 6880 Betton Grange might never have existed. In 1965, during Western Region steam’s final months, the Great Western Society explored buying a ‘Hall’, a ‘Grange’, and a ‘Manor’ from British Rail. While a ‘Hall’ and ‘Manor’ were quoted at just over £1,800 each (nearly £30,000 in today’s money) a ‘Grange’ came out at just over £2,000. Thus, with a ‘Grange’ considered too expensive, ‘Modified Hall’ No. 6998 Burton Agnes Hall and ‘Manor’ No. 7808 Cookham Manor were preserved, thanks to the combined efforts of the GWS and society member John Mynors, while the last ‘Grange’ – No. 6872 Crawley Grange – was withdrawn from Worcester shed in December that year and subsequently scrapped.
Considering that Tyseley shed was one of the last redoubts for the ‘68XXs’ in BR service, it is highly appropriate that Tyseley Locomotive Works is where the ‘Grange’ has been resurrected nearly 60 years after the originals became extinct.
Getting off the ground
Officially, the project to build Betton Grange originated in 1998 within the group restoring GWR ‘Large Prairie’ No. 5199 from Barry condition at the Llangollen Railway. However, the idea to resurrect a Collett ‘68XX’ first germinated in 1982 when Quentin McGuinness, chairman of the 6880 Betton Grange Society, joined the group restoring ‘Hall’ No. 5952 Cogan Hall and ‘Manors’ Nos. 7821 Ditcheat Manor and 7828 Odney Manor, owned by Ken Ryder, on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway.
“I distinctly remember one of the first meetings when we went for a meal at the Pheasant Pub on the corner of Toddington. For some reason, the subject of ‘Should we create a ‘Grange’ out of a ‘Hall’ and a ‘Manor’?’ came up for discussion. Everyone was thinking about it: should we do this? Should we do that?” recalls Quentin. “In the end, ‘Manors’ are such a useful locomotive for preservation, and Harry Barber, one of the group, had a liking for Ditcheat Manor particularly. ‘No, no, we can’t destroy ‘Ditcheat’. We’ve got to keep it!’. So, in the end, it got dropped.”
Thus, it wasn’t until The 5199 Project – of which Quentin was the founder member – neared the end of No. 5199’s restoration that the concept of resurrecting a ‘Grange’ really gained traction.
Quentin says: “I’d read so many letters addressed to Steam Railway in particular, and probably even earlier to Steam World, lamenting the passing of the ‘Granges’ and the fact that none had been saved. I think it was natural, because
