Thomas

Basis
Thomas is based on the Billinton E2-Class 0-6-0T locomotives built for the london, Brighton and South Coast Railway between 1913 and 1916. He is apparently one of the last batch built as only these engines featured his distinctive extended side-tanks, projecting foward over the leading wheels and little down sweeps at each end of the foodplate. The E2s were introduced in 1915 to replace earlier of the E1 class, which had been scrapped. The last five in the ten strong class had extended side tanks to give a greater water capacity, but all engines had two inside clyinders and driving wheels 4' 6 diamater.