Designed by Richard Maunsell the ‘N’ Class was designed as a mixed traffic locomotive and was introduced by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1917. The first batch of 15 were built in Ashford between 1917 and 1923. Following grouping of the railways these were taken over by Southern Railways and a further 50 were assembled in Ashford from kits of parts manufactured on the site of the wartime Woolwich Arsenal. The ‘N’ class was a reliable locomotive and operated throughout the SR network and excelled during World War 2 hauling heavy loads. In 1948 they passed over to British Railways ownership and their phased withdrawal took place from 1962 to 1966. A810 was the first prototype of the class and was built in August 1917. It was renumbered 1810 by SR in 1923 and then 31810 by British Railways in 1948. It was withdrawn from service in March 1964.