The L&B used only coal-fired steam engines. The railway ordered three 2-6-2Ts from Manning Wardle & Co of Leeds. The engines were named after local rivers: "Yeo", "Exe", and "Taw". These were supplemented by a 2-4-2T, "Lyn", built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, USA, as the company realised that three engines would not be enough. Baldwin was chosen as they could deliver the engine – built mainly from standard parts – more quickly than British builders, who had a backlog of orders, caused by a national engineering dispute from July 1897 to January 1898. After it was built by Baldwin, the engine was shipped across the Atlantic in parts, and re-assembled at Pilton by railway staff. It first steamed in July 1898. The Manning Wardles were delivered before the dispute, and "Yeo" and "Taw" were used to help build the line.