Swiftsure was first of eight or more similar locomotives with a single pair of driving wheels built by George Forrester and Company (Forresters) from 1834. The tank variant was the first passenger tank engine to enter service in the world. Locomotives were supplied to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), Dublin and Kingstown (D&KR), London and Greenwich (L&GR), Birmingham and Gloucester (B&GR), and a few other minor railways.