The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

Metropolitan Class

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s with condensing apparatus were used for working trains on the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

. The equipment was later removed, though the class continued to work suburban trains on GWR lines in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The class was introduced into service between June 1862 and October 1864, and withdrawn between June 1871 and December 1877. Twenty-two locomotives were built to the

tank locomotive A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

arrangement from 1862 to 1864., ''Metropolitan'', 2-4-0T The locomotives were built by three workshops, each with a different naming system. The first two batches were delivered concurrently by the Vulcan Foundry (named after insects), and Kitson & Co. (named after foreign monarchs). These were followed by a batch from the railway's own workshops at

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

, that were named after flowers. Around 1865, seven of the class were rebuilt as tender locomotives: ''Hornet'', ''Mogul'', ''Azalia'', ''Lily'', ''Myrtle'', ''Violet'', ''Laurel''., ''Metropolitan'', 2-4-0 All were withdrawn between 1871 (''Czar'') and 1877 (''Rose'' & ''Shamrock'').

Locomotives

* ''Azalia'' (1864–1872) :Built at

, it ran as a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. Named after the flower, the

azalea Azaleas ( ) are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Rhododendron sect. Tsutsusi, Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and ''Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate ...

. * ''Bee'' (1862–1874) :Built by the Vulcan Foundry. Named after the insect, the bee. * ''Bey'' (1862–1872) :Built by Kitson & Co. Named after a

bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

who was a Turkish chieftain. * ''Camelia'' (1863–1876) :Built at Swindon. Named after the flower, the

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

. * ''Czar'' (1862–1871) :Built by Kitson & Co. The

czar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

was the emperor of Russia. * ''Fleur-de-Lis'' (1863–1872) :Built at Swindon. Named after a symbolic flower, the

fleur-de-lis The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the (stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis'' ...

. * ''Gnat'' (1862–1874) :Built by the Vulcan Foundry. Named after the insect, the

gnat GNAT is a free-software compiler for the Ada programming language which forms part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). It supports all versions of the language, i.e. Ada 2012, Ada 2005, Ada 95 and Ada 83. Originally its ...

. * ''Hornet'' (1862–1873) :Built by the Vulcan Foundry, it was later altered to a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. Named after the insect, the

hornet Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the Eusociality, eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to yellowjackets, their close relatives. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other Vespi ...

. * ''Kaiser'' (1862–1872) :Built by Kitson & Co. A

kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

was an emperor of Austria or Germany. * ''Khan'' (1862–1872) :Built by Kitson & Co. A khan was an Asian leader. * ''Laurel'' (1864–1872) :Built at Swindon, it ran as a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. Named after the tree, the laurel. * ''Lily'' (1864–1872) :Built at Swindon, it ran as a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. After withdrawal the boiler was sold to the Telegraph Construction Company who used it as a stationary boiler on board the . Named after the

lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

family of flowers. * ''Locust'' (1862–1876) :Built by the Vulcan Foundry. Named after the insect, the

locust Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...

. * ''Mogul'' (1862–1872) :Built by Kitson & Co, it was later altered to a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. A mogul was the leader of the Mughals. * ''Mosquito'' (1862–1877) :Built by the Vulcan Foundry. Named after the insect, the

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

. * ''Myrtle'' (1864–1873) :Built at Swindon, it ran as a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. Named after the myrtle genus of flowering plants. * ''Rose'' (1863–1877) :Built at Swindon. Named after the flowering shrub, the

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

, the symbol of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. * ''Shah'' (1862–1872) :Built by Kitson & Co. The

shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

was the ruler of Persia. * ''Shamrock'' (1863–1877) :Built at Swindon. Named after the flowering plant, the

shamrock A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of the Irish word and simply means "young clover". At most times'', Shamrock'' refers to either the species ...

, the symbol of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. * ''Thistle'' (1863–1874) :Built at Swindon. Named after the

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. T ...

family of flowering plants, the symbol of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. * ''Violet'' (1864–1872) :Built at Swindon. Named after the flower, the violet. * ''Wasp'' (1862–1875) :Built by the Vulcan Foundry. Named after the insect, the

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

References

* * * {{GWR Locomotives Metropolitan 2-4-0T locomotives 2-4-0 locomotives Broad gauge (7 feet) railway locomotives Vulcan Foundry locomotives Kitson locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1862