Stroudley, cautious as he was, built the first two experimental C class locos in 1871 � nos. 84 & 85 � fitted with Adams safety valves. They were extensively tested on heavy goods trains from Willow Walk to Brighton. Never having a good reputation for steaming, they nevertheless were not only joined by 18 more � the second batch built by Kitsons 1873/4 � but from 1882 the succeeding class of C1�s were also built.

The C�s were unbraked as built, but the Westinghouse system was added to 406,8,9,10,11,13,15,18-20 between 1884 & 1887. All the C1�s were built with Westinghouse brakes operating on the rear two axles. Screw reversing gear had displaced the lever in the later class, along with a larger cab, increased boiler size and under-slung boiler feed clacks. Both classes had the novel outside frame tenders all their lives, with the sole exception of no. 423, which was photographed around 1905 with an inside frame tender � as the Gladstones had. The o/f tenders had one-by-one been transferred from the 2 earlier of Stroudley�s singles � Grosvenor and Abergavenny, the �Richmonds� and also from the D2�s as they were given new i/f tenders. Rough riding at speed was the reason given, as goods trains would never achieve the speeds of passenger services.