The E2 was a class of 0-6-0T tank locomotives introduced by L.B. Billinton in 1913 for shunting, piloting duties and local goods. It was used to replace Stroudley's class E1 and actually, the prototype for the E2 was a rebuilt E1. In 1911 D.E. Marsh took No. 89 “Brest” and equipped it with a larger boiler, designating it class E1X. Two years later Billinton decided that it would be better to build new and larger locomotives from the start, and so he designed the E2. It was his first design for the LB&SCR, nine years after his father R.J. Billinton died in office.
The boiler was essentially the same as in the 4-4-2T class I2 built by Marsh from 1907. The water in the side tanks was heated by exhaust from the cylinders. To feed the hot water into the boiler, a Weir pump was used instead of injectors. After the first batch of five built in 1913 and 1914, it became clear that the water supplies were too small. So the five locomotives of the second batch of 1915 and 1916 were built with water tanks which had been made longer. Their bottom was cut out at the front to give access to the motion.
Tests in suburban passenger service showed that the coal bunker was still too small to cover longer distances with heavy trains. To they still remained in shunting and pilot service and sometimes hauled local goods trains. From 1923, they became numbers 2100 to 2109 of the Southern Railway. British Railways numbered them 32100 to 32109 and replaced the Weir pumps with injectors. All were withdrawn between 1961 and 1963 and scrapped.
