British Railways
What was the operator of LB&amp;SCR E1 class after Sep 1954?
LB&amp;SCR E1 class The London , Brighton and South Coast Railway E1 Class were steam locomotives designed by William Stroudley in 1874 for short-distance goods and piloting duties . They were originally classified E , and generally known as E-tanks ; They were reclassified E1 in the time of D . E . Marsh . Construction and use . The first six locomotives of this useful and long-lived class were built at Brighton and appeared in traffic between September 1874 and March 1875 . They performed well and further orders were placed at regular intervals until December 1891 when the class consisted of eighty locomotives and were used throughout the LBSCR system , principally for goods and shunting , but occasionally for secondary passenger duties . In 1884 Stroudley also built one example of the class ( No . 157 Barcelona ) with a larger boiler and Gladstone-type cylinders with valves underneath to work on the steeply-graded lines between Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells . This Special E-tank was withdrawn in 1922 . Rebuilds and withdrawals . After 1894/95 the class gradually began to be replaced by R.J . Billintons radial tanks of the E3 and E4 classes . Withdrawals commenced in 1908 when one locomotive was broken up for spares , and others were withdrawn at intervals until May 1914 , when the increased need for locomotives during the First World War meant that there were no further withdrawals . One locomotive ( no . 89 ) was rebuilt with a larger boiler by D . E . Marsh between January and June 1911 and reclassified E1X ; it was renumbered 89A in October 1911 , and 689 in December 1912 . However this was rebuilt as an E1 in 1930 once the boiler was condemned . Under Southern Railway ownership , withdrawals continued during the 1920s , with some examples sold to industrial railways rather than scrapped . Eight examples were also rebuilt as radial tank engines for use in the west of England . These were classified as E1/R . Four E1s were also transferred for duties on the Isle of Wight : three were shipped from Southampton on 4 July 1932 and a fourth on 16 June 1933 . Before transfer , they were overhauled at Eastleigh Works , painted green , renumbered W1-W4 and given names related to the Island . - 136 ( originally Brindisi ) became W1 Medina . - 152 ( originally Hungary ) became W2 Yarmouth . - 154 ( originally Madrid ) became W3 Ryde . - 131 ( originally Gournay ) became W4 Wroxall . Nos . W1–W3 were allocated to Newport , and no . W4 was at Ryde . They were primarily intended for goods traffic , but were used on passenger trains where necessary . At speed they were unsteady , but after no . W4 was successfully rebalanced at Ryde Works in October 1933 , the others were modified similarly during 1935–36 . Thirty examples survived the transfer of ownership to British Railways in 1948 but during the 1950s they were gradually replaced by diesel shunters . The last survivor , BR no 32694 , was allocated to Southampton Docks . It was withdrawn in July 1961 and scrapped at Eastleigh Works later that year . The four on the Isle of Wight worked goods trains until route closures in the 1950s brought a reduction in their duties . When repairs became due , they were withdrawn from service instead of being overhauled : no . W2 was withdrawn in September 1956 , no . W1 in March 1957 , no . W3 in June 1959 and no . W4 in October 1960 . Preservation . One example , No . B110 ( originally No . 110 Burgundy ) was sold in 1927 to the Cannock and Rugeley Colliery Company . They gave it the number 9 and named it Cannock Wood , and it worked their internal system until 1963 . After withdrawal it was bought for preservation and moved between several sites before restoration began in 1986 and it returned to action at the East Somerset Railway in 1993 . It was withdrawn prematurely in 1997 requiring firebox and boiler repairs , and spent many years in pieces awaiting overhaul , although in 2011 it was cosmetically restored into ( inauthentic ) BR black . In 2012 , B110 was sold to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway , in return for LMS Ivatt Class 2 no . 46447 moving to the ESR . The railway plans to restore the engine and run it as No . W2 Yarmouth , which was an identity previously worn by one of the Isle of Wight-based E1s . External links . - Steam locomotive database - East Somerset Railway page - Rail UK database entry - Southern E-Group