Four 0-6-0 locomotives were on order from Brighton railway works at the time that William Stroudley took over from John Chester Craven as Locomotive Superintendent in 1870. He cancelled this order and replaced it with another for two locomotives of his own design, Nos. 83 and 84 which appeared in December 1871. Eighteen further locomotives were constructed between March 1873 and November 1874, Nos. 77-82 by Brighton works and the remainder by Messrs. Kitson and Company[1][page needed]
The class were powerful locomotives for their time and the design was "an archetype for heavy goods engines in Scotland as well as Southern England,"[2] but in other respects were Stroudley's least successful design, suffering from poor steaming. Within a decade of their introduction the class was being replaced by his C1 class 0-6-0 design of 1882–87 on the heaviest trains. Nevertheless, they proved to be reliable locomotives and survived for nearly thirty years on secondary freight duties. Members of the class were withdrawn between 1901 and 1904.
