Passing Exeter St . Thomas , the first halt after Exeter's principal Western station at St . David's and heading westwards down to Dawlish and beyond , 2881 is losing steam from what looks like her water feedpipe or injector which must be obscuring her driver's forward view somewhat .
Exminster water troughs lie a mile or so ahead and 2881 was allocated to Newton Abbot at about this time so she's probably heading home on this freight working.
2881 would have entered service from construction at Swindon in or about 1918 , one of the last examples of Mr . Churchward's original design , the eighty three later versions of Mr. Collett's " 2884 " batch of the class with their modifications which were numbered from 2884 to 3866 being introduced between 1938 and 1942 .
Intended primarily for heavy coal train workings , especially within South Wales , examples of the class were to be found over a wide variety of Western Motive Power Depots , although none appear to have been allocated to Depots within Cornwall. 2881 has not yet been fitted with outside steam pipes.