GWR Star Class (broad gauge)

When Brunel specified the Great Western Railway's 7 ft 0¼ in broad gauge in 1833, no broad-gauge locomotives existed. Robert Stephenson & Co. agreed to convert two 5 ft 6 in gauge engines originally built for the never-completed New Orleans Railway in the United States to GWR specification. These two engines — North Star and Morning Star — became the prototype Star class.

The Star was a Patentee-type 2-2-2 enlarged for the broad gauge: a single pair of 7 ft driving wheels behind the firebox, inside cylinders, leading and trailing carrying wheels. With the broad gauge giving generous clearances around the boiler and motion, the Stars were considerably larger than contemporary standard-gauge engines, and proved the worth of Brunel's gauge for high-speed passenger work. A further ten were ordered between 1838 and 1841.

North Star opened the GWR on 4 June 1838 by hauling the first scheduled passenger train from Paddington to Maidenhead. The Stars worked the railway's first eight years of express services and were progressively rebuilt by Daniel Gooch as their boilers aged. Most were rebuilt as effectively new engines in the 1850s and worked into the 1860s and 1870s. North Star itself was finally withdrawn in 1871, after 33 years' service, and was preserved by the GWR as a heritage piece — but was scrapped in 1906 by Churchward, who needed the space at Swindon Works. A full-size sectioned replica was built at Swindon in 1925 and is now displayed at STEAM Museum, Swindon.

Broad-gauge 2-2-2 with a single pair of 7 ft 0 in driving wheels, inside cylinders between the frames, copper-capped chimney, and the Stephenson sandwich frames typical of the period. The 1925 replica retains all the original visual character.

• North Star (1837, replica at STEAM Swindon)
• Morning Star, Evening Star, Dog Star, Polar Star, Red Star (1839–41, not preserved)