GWR Star Class
Encyclopedia
The Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 (GWR) Star Class of 2-2-2
2-2-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both provided more stability and enabled a larger firebox...

 broad gauge steam locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s were used for passenger train work. Designed by Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...

, the class was introduced into service between November 1838 and November 1841, and withdrawn between April 1864 and September 1871.

A total of twelve Star Class locomotives were manufactured. Notably, they were given the romantic or colloquial (rather than scientific) names of astronomical bodies. By the time the last had been delivered, GWR engineer Daniel Gooch
Daniel Gooch
Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet was an English railway and transatlantic cable engineer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1885...

 had designed and taken delivery of several of his larger Firefly Class
GWR Firefly Class
The Firefly was a class of broad gauge 2-2-2 steam locomotives used for passenger services on the Great Western Railway. The class was introduced into service between March 1840 and December 1842, and withdrawn between December 1863 and July 1879....

.

North Star and Morning Star

  • North Star (1837–1871)
North Star arrived at Maidenhead Bridge
Twyford railway station
Twyford railway station is a railway station in the village of Twyford, Berkshire, England.It is served by local services operated by First Great Western from , east, to...

 by barge on 28 November 1837; on 31 May 1838 it worked the inaugural train for the company's directors. In 1854 it was rebuilt with 16in × 18in cylinders and the wheelbase lengthened by a foot. It was withdrawn in 1871 but kept at Swindon, along with Lord of the Isles
GWR Iron Duke Class
The Great Western Railway Iron Duke Class 4-2-2 was a class of broad gauge steam locomotives for express passenger train work.-History:The prototype locomotive, Great Western, was built as a 2-2-2 locomotive in April 1846, but was soon converted to a 4-2-2 arrangement...

, until 1906.

'The north star' is one of two common alternative names for Polaris
Polaris
Polaris |Alpha]] Ursae Minoris, commonly North Star or Pole Star, also Lodestar) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star....

 (its other being 'the pole star
Pole star
The term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...

'). It is the only visible polar star in either hemisphere, and has long been used for navigation due to its constant fixed and unmoving appearance due north in the night sky.

  • Morning Star (1839–1869)
This, the second Star Class, was not delivered until 14 months after the North Star. It had smaller 6ft 6in wheels, as had been intended when it was constructed for the New Orleans Railway; the wheelbase was 12ft 6in.

Named after 'the morning star', the common periodic name for the planet Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

 (at times the brightest object in the night sky) when seen in the eastern sky just before sunrise, its motion then appearing to "lead" the sun for many mornings.


Later locomotives

  • Bright Star (1841–1864)
A 'bright star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

' is one clearly visible in the night sky, and generally denotes one of a few that appear to shine more than most.
  • Dog Star (1839–1869)
After withdrawal, Dog Star was used as a stationary boiler at Paddington. Named after 'the dog star', the common name for Sirius
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Seirios . The star has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris...

, brightest star in the night sky and found in the constellation Canis Major
Canis Major
Canis Major is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was included in the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations. Its name is Latin for 'greater dog', and is commonly represented as one of the dogs following Orion the hunter...

(Lat: 'greater dog', from whence Sirius' common name).
  • Evening Star (1839–1871)
Named after 'the evening star', the common periodic name for the planet Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

 (at times the brightest object in the night sky) when seen in the western sky just before sunset, its motion then appearing to "follow" the sun for many evenings.
  • Lode Star (1841–1870)
A 'lodestar
Lodestar
A lodestar or guiding star may be:*Polaris*any star used in celestial navigation*metaphorically, any guiding principle*Guiding Star...

' denotes any easily found star that is used to aid navigation (for example Polaris
Polaris
Polaris |Alpha]] Ursae Minoris, commonly North Star or Pole Star, also Lodestar) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star....

). Now an archaic term, in Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 it meant 'course star' or 'lead star'.
  • Polar Star (1840–1870)
This locomotive was built with 15½ × 18in cylinders. It was rebuilt as a 4-2-2T tank locomotive. Its name is assisted with navigation: a polar star
Pole star
The term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...

is one that appears fixed and unmoving over the Earth's North or South Pole and is thus used for a guide. The only one visible is Polaris
Polaris
Polaris |Alpha]] Ursae Minoris, commonly North Star or Pole Star, also Lodestar) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star....

 (aka. the Pole Star or North Star).
  • Red Star (1840–1865)
This locomotive was rebuilt as a 4-2-2T tank locomotive. Its name has no particular association with any specific star, although prominent red stars visible from the northern hemisphere include Aldebaran
Aldebaran
Aldebaran is a red giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky...

, Arcturus, Antares
Antares
Antares is a red supergiant star in the Milky Way galaxy and the sixteenth brightest star in the nighttime sky . Along with Aldebaran, Spica, and Regulus it is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic...

 and Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis , is the eighth brightest star in the night sky and second brightest star in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel only rarely...

.
  • Rising Star (1840–1871)
This locomotive had a 14ft 6in wheelbase; at some time it was rebuilt as a 4-2-2T tank locomotive. On 7 September 1841 it ran over an earthslip near Chippenham
Chippenham railway station
Chippenham railway station serves the market town of Chippenham in Wiltshire, England. The station is on the Great Western Main Line, in between and , and is served by First Great Western main line services between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington, and a smaller First Great Western local...

, but the rest of the train (including Tiger
GWR Firefly Class
The Firefly was a class of broad gauge 2-2-2 steam locomotives used for passenger services on the Great Western Railway. The class was introduced into service between March 1840 and December 1842, and withdrawn between December 1863 and July 1879....

, coupled behind) was derailed. The locomotive's name reflected the company's status: a 'rising star' is the term for any star appearing to climb the sky (rather than moving low across the horizon), and is often used metaphorically to mean someone "new" whose reputation is increasing rapidly.
  • Royal Star (1841–1871)
This locomotive was built with 15½ × 19in cylinders and a 12ft 7in wheelbase. The four Persian 'royal stars
Royal stars
The four Royal stars or Guardians of the Sky were a group of stars noticed by the Persian astrologers, and mentioned by Zarathustra , around 3000 BC and used as a rudimentary season calendar....

' are Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut, said to guard the four quarters of the annual night sky.
  • Shooting Star (1841–1871)
This locomotive was rebuilt as a 4-2-2T tank locomotive. A 'shooting star' is the descriptive term for a meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...

.
  • Western Star (1841–1866)
This locomotive was built with 15½ × 19in cylinders and a 12ft 7in wheelbase. After withdrawal it was used as a stationary boiler at Oxford
Oxford railway station
Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, northwest of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road, and on the line linking with . It is also on the line for trains between and Hereford via...

. Its name reflected the GWR's westerly direction: 'the western star' has no particular association with any specific star (although Antares
Antares
Antares is a red supergiant star in the Milky Way galaxy and the sixteenth brightest star in the nighttime sky . Along with Aldebaran, Spica, and Regulus it is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic...

 was the quarter guardian of the western gate in Persian 'royal star' mythology).

Replica

A non-working replica of North Star was constructed for the 1923 Cavalcade, and is now housed at Swindon Steam Railway Museum
Swindon Steam Railway Museum
STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is located at the site of the old railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'...

.

It made use of some of the parts of the original North Star, scrapped as recently as 1906, but is not capable of being steamed. Although it featured in the railway's centenary film in 1935, it was pushed by another locomotive.
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