The first five members of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSC) E2 class 0-6-0 tanks were introduced by L Billinton in June 1913.  In service they were found to be powerful but slightly lacking in water and therefore a further batch of 5 were ordered, although delayed by the war, and built between June 1915 and October 1916 with extended side tanks, These extended tanks  increased water capacity from 1,090 to 1,256 gallons.
They were used on shunting and short distance goods trips, their small capacity coal bunkers made them unsuitable for longer trips. They were also used on empty stock workings at Victoria and London Bridge.

Following the onset of electrification a number were used as shunters at Southampton Docks and despite their 16ft wheelbase restricting their use in some areas of the docks they stayed working the docks until 1962 when the Class 07 diesels arrived.
Withdrawal of took place between 1961 and 1963.

The Hornby model of the E2 0-6-0 first appeared in 1979 and following 4 versions, LBSC Umber (2 versions) , SR lined Black and SR olive green, production ceased in 1984.   After which the tooling was altered used for the production of some other blue model… dam I wasn’t going to mention that…

Many years ago in my yoof I simply repainted into SR ‘Sunshine’ black, now with Canute Road Quay being an ideal setting for an E2 I decided to dig the E2 out again and give her a quick win makeover, so finescale modellers look away now…

The original chassis was the standard at the time Hornby generic 0-6-0 X04 motor fitted chassis. As this is a quick win project I have decided to not at this stage built a new chassis but simply swap it for the later style of Hornby 0-6-0 generic chassis with its closed frames and smaller motor and slightly greater level of detail. This later chassis is a direct replacement and also gives better running.
To this chassis I have added front sandboxes, made from plastic rectangular section and filed to shape with wire sand pipes, and added front and rear guard irons from plasticard.

The body itself generally matches the correct dimensions for the E2 which was certainly one of the larger 0-6-0 tanks. I have added new brass buffers, pipework, clack valves and lamp irons from various bits and bobs kicking around from the spares / scrap box.
In keeping with the Brighton Style, dating from when the water in the tanks was pre heated, the tank sides were clad and the fixing bolts for the cladding were a visible feature and the E2 was no different. To represent these visible fixings I drilled then glued in 0.45mm wire before cutting the wire almost flush with the tankside.
Just underneath the running plate I have added the long horizontal air tanks on each side, made from plastic rod and some of the piping from brass wire.

The E2 is a large tank when compared to other tanks such as the B4 class, however the body as new does sit slightly too high on the chassis, and this is simply remedied by filing the underside of the front two fixing lugs and also the underside of the single rear sprung lug.

After a dusting with primer from a Halfords aerosol can she received a coat of Halfords Satin Black again from a rattle can before the smokebox and cab roof were brush painted matt black and the bufferbeam of course in red. Her identity as 2104 was added using HMRS Pressfix transfers to complete the look.

I admit she would benefit from a proper finescale chassis, but as a quick win project I think it fits the bill and will extend the life of the Hornby model seeing occasional use on canute Road Quay. A nice 3D print of the E2 with the extended tanks is available and so this might form the basis of a future project…