 The Adams T1 design of 1888 with wheels had been developed to meet the LSWR's requirement for a compact and sure-footed suburban passenger locomotive to be utilised on the intensive commuter timetables around London.However, by the mid-1890s the suburban services around London were growing at a rate which began to preclude the use of these and other older classes of locomotive.The M7 tank locomotive was the first design by Dugald Drummond upon replacing William Adams as Locomotive Superintendent of the LSWR in 1895.