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 This Special E-tank was withdrawn in 1922.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. Billinton's 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 Withdrawals commenced in 1908 when one locomotive was broken up for spares, and others were withdrawn at intervals until May 1914, when the increased need for locomotives during the First World War meant that there were no further withdrawals.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