For commuter traffic in the south and southeast of London, William Stroudley developed the class A1, of which a total of 50 were built between 1872 and 1880. The tank locomotives with an 0-6-0T wheel arrangement had small driving wheels and were able to rapidly accelerate the commuter trains of that time. Nevertheless, they were able to reach speeds of up to 60 mph (97 km/h) and a sustained speed of just under 50 mph (80 km/h). Because of their small size and barking exhaust noise, they were nicknamed “terriers”.

With the introduction of the more powerful class D1 with 0-4-2T wheel arrangement and the electrification of the first commuter lines, they were no longer needed in the London area. 23 were sold to various other operators and the remainder distributed to rural lines, mainly in Sussex. There they were mostly used in passenger service, sometimes also as push-pull trains. Others were used in shunting duties.

Between 1911 and 1913, 17 A1s were rebuilt into the A1X, becoming heavier and having, among other things, larger cylinders and a longer smokebox. Many survived the Southern Railway and came to the British Railways. Many retirements only came from 1960 onwards. The last ones only disappeared in November 1963 when the Hayling Island Branch was closed.

Stroudley had “Grosvenor” built in 1874 for the LB&SCR as a prototype for a new express locomotive. However, like the entire locomotive, the driving wheel diameter of six feet and nine inches (2.057 mm) was too large. So in 1876 Abergavenny was ordered, which had three inches smaller driving wheels and was generally lighter. Finally, 24 production machines followed, which had the wheel diameter of Abergavenny and were again slightly heavier. All locomotives, including the prototypes, were used in front of fast trains for a long time. They were withdrawn between 1905 and 1914 after they had been replaced by locomotives with two coupled axles. Grosvenor also reached a mileage just over a million miles. 

The I1 was built in two batches of ten locomotives each in 1906 and 1907 for the suburban lines in south London. They had a 4-4-2T wheel arrangement with a five foot six inch driving wheel diameter and a condensing apparatus for use in urban environments. In the second batch, the driving wheels and coupling rods of the class D1 were used, what shortened the wheelbase.

Occasionally they were also used as far as Brighton or hauled the royal train. However, they were bad steamers on suburban lines with short distances between stations. After being taken over by the Southern Railway, between 1925 and 1932 they received new superheated boilers left over from the rebuild of the classes I3 and B4. Now performing better only two were retired before 1948 and the the last ones of the remainder were used by British Railways until 1951.

Around 1910, the LB&SCR needed a new locomotive for express goods trains because the old, modernized 0-6-0 locomotives were no longer sufficient. As there were many fast passenger trains on the LB&SCR network and the electrification of suburban routes in London was also being conceived, there were special requirements. On the one hand, the trains had to be accelerated quickly out of the sidings, but they also had to be drawn on at high line speeds in order not to slow down the passenger trains. In addition, the new locomotive was to be fitted with train heating system in order to be able to assist with heavy passenger trains during the holiday season.

The result was the K class, developed by Lawson Butzkopfski Billinton with a 2-6-0 wheel arrangement. It was an innovative design that was both the first locomotive with this wheel arrangement for the LB&SCR and the first with a Belpaire firebox. It also received a Robinson superheater, the largest tender available and other modern equipment. Ten pieces were delivered in 1913. These were used extensively during World War I to transport ammunition, equipment and troops to ports. Typically, trains of 1,000 long tons were hauled at speeds between 30 and 35 mph. 

After the war, the initial plan was to develop a tank locomotive with a 2-6-2T wheel arrangement. However, since this would not be able to carry sufficient supplies, ten more pieces of the K were ordered instead. Due to the workload of the workshops in Brighton, however, only seven were delivered. After the grouping in 1923, the class K on the Southern Railway initially provided other important services on the former LB&SCR network. During this time, various improvements were tested on the locomotives, but none of these would have brought sufficient benefits in daily work.

This changed in 1933 with the electrification of the Brighton Main Line because the locomotives had now presented a traffic obstruction here. In order to be able to use them on other routes, they first had to be adapted to the smaller loading gauge elsewhere. To accomplish this, the height of the chimney, steam dome and cab roof was reduced between 1929 and 1939. After performing the same duties in World War II as in World War I, they continued to be used by British Railways and were all retired in November and December 1962. In the extremely harsh winter that followed, at least one engine was mothballed to help keep operations going.

The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway had relatively light express trains on the London to Portsmouth line, which were still pulled by Singles in the early 1890s. Since these had reached their limits, Robert Billinton developed the first LB&SCR locomotives with a leading bogie. Between 1895 and 1898 25 were built in Brighton, designated class B2.

The nickname “Grasshopper” is probably a reference to unsteady running characteristics. Since their power was described as too low for their tasks, Billinton had the B3 “Bessemer” built in 1897 with a larger boiler. There were initially no modifications to the existing locomotives und also the ones built until 1898 got the original boiler.

It was only Marsh who had all B2 and B3 rebuilt from 1906 onwards with the same boiler as the class C3 freight locomotives, which became class B2x. This boiler was heavier, but had a smaller heating surface and still achieved greater output. The B2x was phased out with the electrification of the line to Portsmouth between 1929 and 1933.

The LB&SCR class B4 express locomotives were developed in 1899 by L.B. Billinton because the B2, which had been introduced just a few years earlier, proved to be too weak. Plans were again made to build 25 in Brighton. Since the completion of the third was delayed due to a large backlog of repairs, 25 more B4 were ordered from Sharp, Stewart & Co., all of which were delivered in 1901. Five more were finally built in Brighton in 1902 using boilers supplied by Sharp.

The B4 initially pulled the heaviest express trains until more powerful locomotives appeared in 1912. Between 1922 and 1924, Billinton's son L.B. Billinton had a total of twelve B4 rebuilt with larger superheated boilers and larger cylinders. Because these boilers were too long for the frames, new, longer frames had to be used. Since the locomotives were almost new, they were referred to as class B4x.

Although the boiler of the B4x delivered a lot of steam, it turned out that due to the limited space above the bogie, sufficiently large valves could not be installed and the blast pipe was also not optimally arranged. This meant that they could not fully utilize the steam and timetable speeds higher than 70 mph (113 km/h) could not be scheduled.

The use of the B4 and B4x with express trains ended as early as 1929, so that other tasks were assigned to them. Between 1934 and 1939, 13 locomotives were retired until the Second World War initially stopped this process. Most of the 20 remaining ones came to the British Railways, where all non-rebuilt B4 were retired by May 1951. The B4x followed until December of the same year.

This was a single tank engine built for light duties on branch lines. Special features were an outside sandwich frame in which the carrying axles were mounted and an inside frame made of metal in which the driving axle was mounted. It left the Brighton Works in 1859 and initially bore no name. In 1873 it was christened “Seaford” and renumbered twice. There are reports of two accidents involving it. It was retired in September 1879 after being used on the Bognor branch.

Between 1862 and 1866, Craven had a total of ten small locomotives with a 2-2-2 wheel arrangement built for use in light express trains. It started with number 31, which was delivered in December 1962. It had larger driving wheels than any of its successors at six and a half feet and cylinders measuring 16 inches in diameter and 22 inches in stroke. It had a full-length outer frame, but the driving wheels were only mounted in the inner frame, while the carrying wheels were mounted in the outer frame. The inside cylinders were controlled by a Stephenson valve gear. It was not until September of the following year that number 161 followed, which only had a driving wheel diameter of six feet and whose cylinders had a larger diameter but a shorter stroke.

In 1864 numbers 190 and 191 were built, and in the following year 29 and 30, all of which were similar. Their wheel diameter was only five and a half feet. With these, all three axles were mounted in the outer frame and the driving axle in addition in the inner frame. One difference was that the first two had an Allan valve gear and the last two had a Stephenson valve gear. A further four locomotives, each almost identical in construction, were built in 1966 for the service between Portsmouth and London and given the numbers 232 to 235. These again had a wheel diameter of six feet. 

Four of the ten locomotives had been given names during their service life that were based on locations along the routes or where they were stationed. These were “Littlehampton”, “Havant”, “Horsham” and “Dorking”. The decommissioning took place between 1880 and 1886. Only numbers 233 and 235 were sold to the West Lancashire Railway in 1883 and were used there until 1887.

A total of ten small tank locomotives were grouped together under the name "South London Tanks", which showed a few differences and were built by Craven for operation in the southern suburbs of London. The first was number 212, built in July 1865 and intended for the line between South Croydon and Victoria station. It had an inside frame with inside cylinders and water tanks on the sides and under the cab. Since the tanks had a total capacity of only 645 gallons, in July 1868 another 155 gallon tank was integrated into the front of the frame, extending below the cylinders.

Also in July 1865 followed number 213, which now had an outside frame and belonged to a standard Craven type. It was slightly heavier than the 212, but only had a cylinder diameter of 15 instead of 16 inches. The 214 and 215 followed in November, which had a total of three water tanks in the frame instead of the side tanks. Otherwise they had a lot in common with the 213. In April 1866 Nos. 17 and 216 to 218 were built, again largely identical to the 213 and having side tanks but with larger water and coal supplies.

Number 230, which was completed in October 1866, showed greater differences. The wheel sets were hinged in an inside frame, while there was still an outside subframe. It had a larger boiler and, like the 212, a cylinder diameter of 16 inches. The 231 delivered in the same month showed even greater differences, which had a bogie instead of a trailing axle due to significantly increased supplies.

Most locomotives have been renumbered over the course of their service life. There were no major rebuilds to the locomotives. However, they were only expected to have a relatively short life, as all were scrapped in the first half of the 1880s.

In the early 1860s, John Chester Craven developed a standard heavy goods type that was to be built in larger numbers with only minor variations. These were six-coupled machines with outside and inside frames, inside cylinders and Stephenson valve gear. They were manufactured at LB&SCR's Brighton works.

Fifteen were built between 1863 and 1867, with cylinders measuring 16 by 24 inches and a wheel diameter of five feet. The running numbers were between 157 and 221 with gaps. In 1867 four more examples were built with the numbers 224 to 227. The diameters of the cylinders and the driving wheels had each been increased by an inch.

There were some differences in the locomotives between the individual production lots, which mainly affected the boiler. It was observed that the firebox gradually got larger in area, while the tube heating area decreased. Most engines were retired between 1893 and 1895, only number 225 survived until 1901.