Erlestoke Manor breaks 100,000 barrier

7812 Erlestoke Manor, is the funds second locomotive to achieve the 100,000 miles of running in preservation. The Collett 4-6-0 is only the second preserved manor to have achieved this milestone, the first being the funds other stalwart 7802 Bradley Manor in 2009. Considering a typical days work on the SVR is around 72 Miles this would equate to the Locomotive having achieved around 1562.5 round trips since being preserved and consumed in the region of 3125 tones of coal.

British Railways kept track of locomotive mileages for administration and maintenance purposes. This feature appeared to have stopped around 1963 when BR stopped recording keeping, however with both locomotives continuing until the autumn of 1965 when they were withdrawn their final mileages are unknown. The 1963 records show that Bradley Manor had achieved 861,965 miles and Erlestoke with 789,376. With the 100,000 mileage achieved in preservation taken into account with the mileage from BR, it wont be to long before we are celebrating 1,000,000! “