The London and South Western Railway was faced with a problem in the mid to late 1800's, there were too many non-standard designs of locomotives for London suburban services, to combat this, Chief Mechanical Engineer Joseph Beattie designed 6 classes of 2-4-0 and 2-2-2 Well Tanks with various minor differences to see what fit and what wouldn't, and the end result which would be the 0298 class, or Beattie Well Tanks would go on to be one of the oldest classes in the entirety of the UK. Most had a working life of around 30 years, however 3 were kept for use on the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway in Cornwall, due to their light weight, major standardization and short wheelbases they were the perfect class for the job. The last 3 were withdrawn in 1963, over 60 years since the last withdrawal beforehand. Two survive today.
