In 1880, Francis Webb introduced a new class of goods locomotives for the LNWR. Based on his 1873 “17 inch coal engine”, it had larger cylinders, a slightly larger boiler with a higher pressure and larger driving wheels. The official name of the new class was “18 inch Goods Engine” due to the cylinder diameter, but it was also called “5 ft 0 in Express Goods” due to the size of wheel centers.

Within 22 years, 310 locomotives have been built. Due to their large LNWR crest on the splashers, they got the nicknames “Cauliflower Class” and “Crested Goods”. With the grouping in 1923, they were put into LMS power class 2F. At this time, only two had been withdrawn. British Railways still inherited 69 in 1948 and withdrew the last ones in 1955. A class that had been derived from this class was the 0-6-2T “18 inch Tank Class”.