The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

Sun Class

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 arrangemen ...

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 , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union ( C ...

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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s for passenger train work. This class was introduced into service between April 1840 and January 1842, and withdrawn between January 1864 and June 1879. A smaller-wheeled version of the Fire Fly Class for working trains on the hilly sections of line west of

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...

, they did not prove heavy enough for the task and were later altered to become 2-2-2T tank locomotives. Later still ''Sun'', ''Hesperus'', ''Gazelle'', ''Wolf'', and ''Assagais'' were given higher pressure boilers and in this form ran until 1879; the last unrebuilt locomotive having been withdrawn in 1872. From about 1865, the Sun Class was known as the Wolf Class.

Locomotives

* ''Antelope'' (1841 - 1870) :Built by

Sharp, Roberts and Company Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wi ...

, this locomotive was named after a fast animal, an

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...

. It worked the first train from Teignmouth to Newton on the South Devon Railway on 30 December 1846. * ''Assagais'' (1841 - 1875) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter, this locomotive was named after an African spear * ''Aurora'' (1840 - 1866) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company with , dia × stroke, cylinders, this locomotive was named after the goddess

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

. * ''Comet'' (1840 - 1871) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company with , dia × stroke, cylinders, this locomotive was named after a fast moving heavenly body, a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

. * ''Creese'' (1842 - 1866) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter, this locomotive was named after the

Kris The kris, or ''keris'' in the Indonesian language, is an asymmetrical dagger with distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). Of Javanese origin, the kris is famous for its dist ...

, a short wavy dagger. * ''Djerid'' (1841 - 1870) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter, this locomotive was named after a throwing spear, the

djerid el-Djerid, also al-Jarīd, ( ar, الجريد; Derja: ''Jerīd''; ) or more precisely the South Western Tunisia Region is a semi-desert natural region comprising three southern Tunisian Governorates, Gafsa, Kebili and Tozeur with adjacent parts ...

* ''Eclipse'' (1840 - 1864) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company. * ''Gazelle'' (1841 - 1879) :Built by Sharp, Roberts and Company, this locomotive was named after the swift animal,

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...

. * ''Giraffe'' (1841 - 1872) :Built by Sharp, Roberts and Company, this locomotive was named after the swift animal,

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, '' Giraffa camelopardal ...

. * ''Hesperus'' (1841 - 1876) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company with , dia × stroke, and an experimental boiler, it was later rebuilt with a conventional one. It was named after

Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus (; grc, Ἕσπερος, Hésperos) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is one of the ''Astra Planeta''. A son of the dawn goddess Eos (Roman Aurora), he is the half-brother of her other son, ...

a character in Roman mythology. * ''Javelin'' (1841 - 1870) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter, this locomotive was named after a thrown weapon, a

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the ...

. * ''Lance'' (1841 - 1870) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter, the name is that of a thrown weapon, a

lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier (lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike s ...

. * ''Meridian'' (1840 - 1870) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company. * ''Meteor'' (1840 - 1864) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company, this locomotive was named after a fast moving heavenly body, a

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...

. * ''Rocket'' (1841 - 1870) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter, this locomotive was named after a swift projectile, a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...

* ''Stiletto'' (1841 - 1870) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter. * ''Sun'' (1840 - 1873) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company, this locomotive was named after the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. * ''Sunbeam'' (1840 - 1870) :Built by R and W Hawthorn and Company. * ''Wolf'' (1841 - 1873) :Built by Sharp, Roberts and Company, this locomotive was named after the strong animal,

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

. * ''Yataghan'' (1841 - 1871) :Built by Stothert and Slaughter. * ''Zebra'' (1841 - 1871) :Built by Sharp, Roberts and Company, this locomotive was named after the fast animal, the

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

References

* * * {{GWR Locomotives

2-2-2 locomotives Broad gauge (7 feet) railway locomotives Sharp Stewart locomotives Avonside locomotives Hawthorn locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1840 Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives