[5][6] The two classes, sometimes referred to by the generic term "pugs", were mainly used as works shunters in the area around Glasgow, Scotland, often running with home-made tenders to improve their small coal capacity.

A number were later sold into private industry and several even made it as far south as Crewe, where they acted as works shunters in British Railways days.

Smokey Joe is a model steam locomotive based on the 264 which has been in the Hornby Railways range since 1983 and has been highly popular, being regarded as a "permanent fixture" by the company.

Photographs of the original 56025 from 1955 show that instead of the graffiti, the engine had a lined saddle tank with an early British Railways "cycling lion" crest and, unlike the model, an enclosed footplate (as a works shunter, it would not have required a large quantity of coal).

As a result, the locomotive has drawn complaints from some hardcore railway modellers that the motor is too fast for the engine to be realistic, with poor low-speed response.