GWR Premier Class

The GWR Premier Class was an early 2-2-2 broad-gauge express locomotive class introduced in 1840 on the Great Western Railway, part of the initial fleet of purpose-designed GWR express engines that Daniel Gooch was developing in the period surrounding the transformative Firefly Class. The Premier Class ran alongside the Firefly on the GWR's broad-gauge main line, providing additional express capacity as the railway's passenger traffic grew rapidly after the full opening of the London–Bristol route in 1841.

Like the Mercury and Firefly classes that were introduced in the same period, the Premier was a 2-2-2 single-driver type on the 7 ft broad gauge, with the large central driving wheel that gave the smooth high-speed running suited to the relatively level GWR main line between Paddington and Bristol. Gooch was in this period systematically developing a coherent family of broad-gauge locomotive types — express passenger, mixed traffic, and goods — and the Premier Class was part of that early express fleet, though somewhat overshadowed in historical memory by the more celebrated Firefly.

The Premier Class gave service through the 1840s and 1850s before being superseded by the more powerful Iron Duke class of 1847 on the top express duties. None was preserved.