The Samson class was the first class of passenger locomotives of the LNWR with coupled driving axles. It had driving wheels with a diameter of 6 ft 3 in (1,905 mm) and was officially designed for mixed traffic. Since the driving wheel diameter without tires was six feet and it had a certain form of Stephenson valve gear, it was officially called “Curved Link 6-ft Passenger”.

It had been designed by John Ramsbottom, who built 50 at Crewe which had no cabs and splashers with holes. 40 more were built by his successor F.W. Webb, which had cabs and splashers without holes. Also the first 50 were retrofitted in this manner. Between 1889 and 1905, they were renewed, what means that they were replaced by 90 new locomotives of the Waterloo class. But however, ten were not scrapped and only withdrawn between 1914 and 1925.