In 1907, following the failure of his
I1 class,
Douglas Earle Marsh sought to fix some of their flaws with a new
4-4-2T design with a longer wheelbase, larger boiler and detailed changes to the front end. In the original order, five of the locomotives would incorporate a
superheated boiler to be supplied by the
North British Locomotive Company, and the remainder traditional saturated steam boilers from
Brighton railway works. In the event, the superheated boilers were delayed in construction and so all ten I2 locomotives had traditional boilers. ==I4 class==