Although the Shay locomotive is usually only being associated with the USA, a number was also exported. Only a single Shay is known to have been exported to the UK and its customer was Alfred Hickman Ltd., also known as “Staffordshire Steel & Ingot Iron Works”. Delivered in 1900, it most likely carried the number 1 and was only called “Lima” due to its manufacturer. It was of type B-20-2, what means it had two trucks of two axles each, three cylinders and an empty weight of around 20 tons. With a gear ratio of 2.176, it developed a huge pulling power for its size at the cost of a top speed of only 14.5 mph. Being an extremely exotic locomotive in its country, it couldn't enjoy a very long career and was scrapped in 1918.

The Avonside Engine Company offered a range of standard narrow gauge tank locomotives that could be ordered with various gauge and cylinder diameter combinations. In order to ensure a long service life and low wear, some assemblies were made of harder steel than actually required and the friction surfaces on wear-intensive parts were made wider.

At the lowest end of the size scale, a four-coupled shunting locomotive was available, which was built in gauges between 1 foot 6 inches and 3 feet 6 inches. Cylinders were available in six, seven or eight inch diameters. Since there were otherwise no adjustments to customer requirements, larger quantities could be pre-produced and delivered directly on demand. No further information is available on the illustrated locomotive with the name “Imperial”.

The Avonside Engine Company offered a range of standard narrow gauge tank locomotives that could be ordered with various gauge and cylinder diameter combinations. In order to ensure a long service life and low wear, some assemblies were made of harder steel than actually required and the friction surfaces on wear-intensive parts were made wider.

A slightly larger type of locomotive with a 2-4-2T wheel arrangement is represented by the “India”. It was available in gauges of 3 feet, metre gauge and 3 feet 6 inches and intended for mixed traffic. The cylinder diameter could be chosen between ten and 17 inches.

The Avonside Engine Company offered a range of standard narrow gauge tank locomotives that could be ordered with various gauge and cylinder diameter combinations. In order to ensure a long service life and low wear, some assemblies were made of harder steel than actually required and the friction surfaces on wear-intensive parts were made wider.

One of the types had the wheel arrangement 0-6-2T and was successfully exported to South America and India. The example shown was built for the gauge of 2 feet and 6 inches and had cylinders with a diameter of 12 and a stroke of 18 inches. Variants with cylinder diameters ranging from nine to fourteen inches were available for the same gauge. For the 2 feet gauge, cylinders with a diameter of between nine and twelve inches were provided.

Locomotives used in collieries often had a long service life since their operators didn't require them to be very powerful, fast or economical. They only had to be reliable in hard daily shunting service and should have a good amount of starting tractive effort. One of those examples was built for the Durham collieries by Hudswell, Clarke in 1866.

It had outside frames, inside cylinders and in its original appearance, it most likely didn't have a cab. To be coupled not only to normal wagons, but also to small chaldrons, it had two sets of buffers. In 1914, it was sold to Sherburn Hill Colliery and another rebuild is recorded for 1928. It was scrapped around 1940.

The Scottish Gas Board, founded in 1949, soon needed a locomotive for their facilities in Glasgow. A requirement was a maximum height of nine feet and nine inches. W.G. Bagnall fulfilled this requirement with a 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive delivered in 1950. To ensure the low height of the cab, the footplate had to be lowered to a level below the running board. 

Similar to the German class 52, the 2-10-0 from the British War Department's austerity program was a ten-coupled, light-footed goods locomotive for use in World War II. It shared cylinders with the Austerity 2-8-0, but featured an additional coupled axle. Due to the same driver diameter, the length of the locomotive was increased and the weight increased by about eight tons, but the axle load fell to 13 tons 9 cwt. While the firebox on the 2-8-0 was located between the wheels of the two rear coupled axles, on the 2-10-0 it was shorter, wider and positioned above the wheels.

Of the 150 built, the majority saw service in France after D-Day to support the British Army. 20 of the first batch had already been delivered to the Middle East for the same task. After the end of the war, most of them stayed abroad. A total of 103 pieces came from France to the Netherlands and were used there by the NS as class 5000. Four remained in Syria as class 150.6 of the CFS and 16 in Greece as class Λβ of the SEK. Eight survived in Greece in varying condition, two of which were later returned to the UK.

In Britain, British Railways bought 25 from the War Department in 1948 and used them in Scotland. They were treated by BR like standard locomotives and classified in the second highest performance class 8F. Since their performance largely corresponded to the Austerity 2-8-0, which was available in larger numbers, both types were used together. From 1957 another engine from the Longmoor Military Railway joined them. All engines remained in service until May 1961, but the vast majority were retired in December 1962.