E1

The LBSCR E1 Class was a series of sixty-six 0-6-0 side-tank locomotives designed by William Stroudley, Locomotive Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1870 to 1889, built at Brighton Works between 1874 and 1883. They were the standard LBSCR goods and shunting tank engine of the Stroudley era, a robust and versatile class that worked the railway's goods yards, station pilot duties, and short-distance goods trips across Sussex, Surrey, and South London.

Stroudley designed the E1 as a companion to his celebrated A Class Terrier 0-6-0 tanks, but significantly more powerful: where the Terrier's 12 in cylinders and light construction suited it to the lightest suburban passenger turns, the E1's 17 in cylinders and heavier construction made it capable of genuine goods work. The six coupled wheels gave good adhesion for the slow-speed shunting and trip working that formed most of the class's duties, and the side-tank configuration provided adequate water capacity without the complication of a separate tender. Stroudley applied his characteristic Improved Engine Green livery — the rich yellow ochre that distinguished all his LBSCR engines — to the E1s as to his other classes, giving even these workaday goods tanks a smart turnout.

The E1s proved exceptionally long-lived. After the LBSCR was absorbed into the Southern Railway at the 1923 Grouping, the class continued in service on goods and shunting duties. Several were rebuilt as E1/R Class locomotives with added radial trailing axles to improve their route availability for branch working in the West Country. The last E1s were not withdrawn until 1961, giving the class a service life approaching ninety years. Five examples survive in preservation, making the E1 — alongside the Terriers — one of the best-represented LBSCR classes in the heritage fleet.