As such they combined unusual and outdated elements, such as saddle tanks and Allan valve gear, with current Great Western details such as the cab, bunker and many minor fittings.

Although, as is conventional, the design is credited to the C.M.E., Harold Holcroft was the junior draughtsman who did all the actual work on the class.

In 1920 one locomotive was transferred to Newton Abbot, Devon, for shunting the railway workshops there, a duty that was to continue until 1952.

The same basic design was used for the six 1366 Class locomotives built in 1934, but this time they were fitted with Belpaire fireboxes, pannier tanks and more modern cabs.

1363, was purchased for preservation by a group of members from the Great Western Society in 1964, two years after it was withdrawn from British Railways service at Laira.