By 1910, many of the StroudleyE1 class locomotives were worn out or inadequate for the heavier duties required of them. D. E. Marsh intended to rebuild some examples with a larger boiler, but only one E1X rebuild had been completed by the time of his unexpected retirement. Marsh's successor Billinton reversed this policy and instead ordered five new, more powerful locomotives from Brighton railway works.[1]: 128 The new class included several features found on other LB&SCR classes including an I2 class boiler. They were delivered between June 1913 and January 1914.
Second Series
The new design was judged to be successful, except that they were found to have inadequate water supply. Thus when a further order for five locomotives was placed they were given extended side tanks. The second batch were delayed by the onset of World War I, but were eventually delivered between June 1915 and October 1916.
Operations
The E2 class locomotives were mainly used for the heavier shunting and short distance freight duties in the London area and on the south coast, as their small coal bunkers made them unsuitable for long trips. These included empty stock workings at Victoria and London Bridge Stations.
Two were tried on passenger services with Push-pull trains in 1914, with the locomotives in the middle of a rake of six coaches, but the experiment was abandoned during the same year as they had insufficient coal capacity.[2]
The class were trialled as dock shunters at Southampton in the 1950s, and were found to be suitable for the task. Six examples were retained for this purpose until their replacement by British Rail Class 07 diesel shunters in 1962.[1]: 129-131
Withdrawal of the class took place between February 1961 and April 1963, and were all scrapped.
Trix produced a model of the first series Class E2 in 1961. It was designed for the Trix Twin 3-rail system but could be converted to 2-rail using the optional 2-rail pick up included with the locomotive.
Hornby produced the locomotive in its earliest form as an 00 gauge model. Production lasted from 1979 to 1985 in three distinct variants with four reference numbers.[5] In 1985 the tooling was retired and after some alterations, was instead used as the basis for the Thomas the Tank Engine model.
Bachmann have also produced several different-coloured E2-based models in their Junior Range.
^"Thomas the Tank Engine". (The real prototype locomotives that inspired the Rev W Awdry). The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine. Archived from the original on 13 December 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2011.