Between 1847 and 1849, the Lancashire & Yorkshire received a total of 82 express locomotives with a 2-2-2 wheel arrangement. These date from the time of John Hawkshaw, who was not actually a locomotive designer and whose designs are not considered the most successful. There were three slightly different variants, which differed primarily in the driving wheel diameter.

One version had a wheel diameter of 5 feet 9 inches and was built 26 times at the L&YR plants in Miles Platting. 17 of the same design came from William Fairbairn. Six and four respectively of another version with a wheel diameter of 5 feet and 6 inches were made by the same manufacturers. Finally there were 29 from Bury, Curtis & Kennedy with 5 feet 10 inches.

Of the total of 82 locomotives, 69 were converted between 1867 and 1872 to a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement. Some received new cylinders with a diameter of 15.5 instead of 15 inches and a new boiler. The locomotives with the original boiler stayed in service until 1880 at the latest, and the others a few years longer.