The very first of Cardiff Canton's allocation of Britannias, allocated to that Depot from new in 1952 from which it was soon rostered to top link express passenger workings between Cardiff and Paddington. Western Star was maintained in first class order, and warmly accepted by the footplate crews at that Motive Power Depot. What a sad sight it makes here, however, its glory days on the Western now over and the engine displaced to the Midland Region in company with its fellow members of the class. The first of five of the class sent to Canton in the early ' fifties, they were in later years joined by the other Britannias from Old Oak Common and Laira as the duties of those engines were taken over on the West of England main line in particular by the incoming Diesels. The cut out handholds in the smoke deflectors replaced the earlier handrails following the derailment of sister engine 70026 Polar Star on a South Wales excursion in 1955, attributed in part to limited forward vision experienced by the footplate men with the original handrails in place.