They were designed by Thomas Russell Crampton for the East Kent Railway (EKR) to specifications prepared by Joseph Cubitt.
[2] The locomotives were prone to frequent failure: at one point, before the sixth had been received, the first five were all out of service simultaneously.
The LCDR asked Daniel Gooch of the Great Western Railway to report on the condition of the locomotives; he found that there were a number of significant problems with the design.
[5] Three of the locomotives (Faversham, Chatham and Sittingbourne) were named after places served by the EKR.
[6] This article relating to steam locomotives operated in England is a stub.