The LMS had various elderly tank engines and the operating department required a new small class 2 locomotive to replace them.

Noting that the Great Western Railway 4500 and 4575 Classes of 2-6-2T ('Prairie') had been successful, George Ivatt designed the new engine type incorporating self-emptying ashpans and rocking grates which were labour-saving devices.

The design formed the basis for the BR Standard Class 2 2-6-2T (numbers 84000–29), which were built to a slightly smaller loading gauge and so have slanted cab sides.

These engines also incorporate a fallplate and fittings common to many BR standard classes, such as the chimneys.

41224 hauled the first train to pass along the old Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway since closure six years earlier, and the last before the track was dismantled.

It was chartered by the Midland area of the Stephenson Locomotive Society and carried more than 220 railway enthusiasts.

As of 2018, all four preserved engines were operational, the latest of them being 41241, which returned to service from an overhaul in June during the K&WVR's 50th anniversary steam gala.

41241 is particularly associated with the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and when initially preserved was painted in a fictitious maroon livery with K&WVR on the tanks, though it was later restored to more conventional BR black.

All of the engines apart from 41241 wear authentic British Railways lined black livery with the later BR crest.