LB&SCR E6 Class

The LB&SCR E6 Class was a series of inside-cylinder 0-6-2 radial side-tank locomotives designed by Douglas Earle Marsh, who succeeded Billinton as LBSCR Locomotive Superintendent in 1905, and built at Brighton Works from 1904. The E6 was conceived primarily as a goods and mixed-traffic tank engine, with smaller driving wheels than the E4 and E5 suburban tanks, giving greater tractive effort for goods haulage on the LBSCR's freight-carrying branch lines and yard shunting at the LBSCR's coastal and inland goods depots.

Marsh introduced the E6 to address the LBSCR's need for a more capable goods tank engine than the relatively lightly-built suburban 0-6-2Ts of the Billinton era. The smaller driving wheels — 4 ft 0 in rather than the 4 ft 6 in of the E4/E5 — gave better low-speed pulling power for starting heavy goods trains, while the six coupled wheels provided adequate adhesion for the varied goods and shunting duties of the LBSCR's network.

The E6 Class passed to the Southern Railway at the 1923 Grouping and continued on goods and secondary duties. Several survived into British Railways ownership. None was preserved.