The Gorgon class were six

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 ...

locomotives operated on the South Devon Railway,

Cornwall Railway The Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construct ...

and

West Cornwall Railway The West Cornwall Railway was a railway company in Cornwall, Great Britain, formed in 1846 to construct a railway between Penzance and Truro. It purchased the existing Hayle Railway, and improved its main line, and built new sections between Pen ...

. They were designed for passenger trains on this steep and sharply curved line but were also used on goods trains when required. They were ordered by the South Devon Railway which was contracted to operate the locomotives for both the railways. They were designed by

Daniel Gooch Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet (24 August 1816 – 15 October 1889) was an English railway locomotive and transatlantic cable engineer. He was the first Locomotive Superintendent, Superintendent of Locomotive Engines on the Great Western Ra ...

a development of his earlier Comet class, and built by the

Avonside Engine Company The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company. Origins The firm was original ...

. The locomotives of the three railways were operated as a combined fleet by the South Devon Railway but each was accounted to the railway that ordered it. On 1 February 1876, the South Devon Railway was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway, the locomotives were given numbers by their new owners but continued to carry their names too.

Locomotives

South Devon Railway

* ''Gorgon'' (1866 – 1892) GWR no. 2122 *:On a foggy Christmas Day in 1883, ''Gorgon'' was put on the front of a train at

Newton Abbot railway station Newton Abbot railway station serves the market town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. It is from (via Box). The station today is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide train services along with CrossCountry. It is the junction for the ...

to assist it over the heavy gradients to the west. After leaving the station the driver realised that he did not have the train behind him. The driver slowed down, only for the remainder of the train to emerge from the fog and collide with his locomotive. ''Gorgon'' was named after a Greek mythological monster, the

Gorgon The Gorgons ( ; ), in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to sto ...

. * ''Sedley'' (1866 – 1885) GWR no. 2124 *:''Sedley'' was the first broad gauge locomotive to take a passenger train through to

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

when the West Cornwall Railway was converted to

mixed gauge Dual gauge railroad track has three or four rails, allowing vehicles of two track gauges to run on it. Signalling and sidings are more expensive to install on dual gauge tracks than on two single gauge tracks. Dual gauge is used when there i ...

. The derivation of this name is uncertain. * ''Sol'' (1866 – 1892) GWR no. 2125 *:The word Sol is the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

in Latin.

West Cornwall Railway

* ''Pluto'' (1866 – 1892) GWR no. 2123 *:''Pluto'' is believed to have been one of the two locomotives on the last passenger train from

on 20 May 1892 before the broad gauge was abandoned. Named after a Roman mythological character,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

. * ''Titan'' (1866 – 1886) GWR no. 2126 *:A

titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

is a powerful Greek god. * ''Zebra'' (1866 – 1892) GWR no. 2127 *:This locomotive was named after a fast animal,

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

References

* * * * * Railway company records at

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Devon Railway Gorgon Class Broad gauge (7 feet) railway locomotives Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom 4-4-0ST locomotives

Avonside locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1866 Scrapped locomotives