In 1875, Samuel Waite Johnson introduced a series of standard goods locomotives which became one of the most numerous in Britain. They became known as “Johnson 0-6-0” and ultimately numbered 935. They had inside cylinders and frames, but outside auxiliary frames with splashers. They were built between 1875 and 1908 by seven commercial builders and the Midland Railway's Derby shops. The batches after 1904 were ordered by Richard Deeley. Between 1896 and 1899, the Midland & Great Northern Joint also got 16 of these locomotives.

Most had drivers of 5 feet and 2½ inches or 1,588 mm. 180 of the locomotives had drivers of 4 feet and 10½ inches or 1,486 mm to increase their tractive effort at the cost of speed. The first batches before 1885, numbered from 1142 and 1357, had cylinders of 17½ by 26 inches and a boiler pressure of 140 psi. Later ones got a cylinder diameter of 18 inches and a pressure of 150 or 160 psi. The last 70 locomotives, classes 2736 and 3815, had larger H and H1 boilers with a pressure of 175 psi. The last 60 of these even had a cylinder diameter of 18½ inches.

Soon older locomotives were rebuilt with the same H and H1 boilers. By 1915, 380 had been completed. From 1916, others were rebuilt with new boilers with a Belpaire firebox. Again, the earlier locomotives got a smaller boiler to keep their weight at 40 tons, while the newer ones got a larger one. Now locomotives with a pressure of 175 psi were LMS power class 3F, while the others only had enough pulling power for class 2F. Only three were superheated in the twenties, while withdrawals of the unrebuilt ones started in 1925. The last ones were gone in 1964.