The Midland Great Western Railway was looking to modernise its motive power fleet, and turned to their Chief Mechanical Engineer, Walter H. Morton, to design a locomotive which could be capable of handling goods, and if required, for local passenger traffic.
There are some thoughts the design may have been influenced by the availability of cheap surplus parts following the First World War.
A supply of coal from America arrived in March 1947 but it took a further three months to build up stocks before normal services could be resumed.
[5] Unlike most MGWR engines they were not named and they carried painted rather than cast iron cabside number plates.
On their first visit to the workshops following the 1925 amalgamation to form the GSR the class were repainted into the standard "dark battleship grey" colours of the new company.