The first Billinton-designed class was the 0-6-0T E2 class of shunting engine, five of which were introduced between June 1913 and January 1914. Two of the class were fitted with equipment for operating passenger trains, and used on six-coach sets in the south London area. Oscillating whilst accelerating, unsteady at speed and with a tendency to throw live coals out of the chimney the locomotives were soon returned to shunting duties. In September 1913 the first of the 2-6-0 K class locomotives entered traffic. These locomotives were intended to fulfill the need to accelerate the speed of goods traffic on the congested London suburban lines. They were fitted with parallel superheated boilers with Belpaire fireboxes (the first such on the LBSCR) and were capable of hauling 1,000 ton trains at an average speed of 30 to 35 mph. The five locomotives of the initial batch were successful enough in working munitions trains to Newhaven at the beginning of World War I for the Government to grant permission for the construction of five more of the class, eventually constructed at the end of 1916.