The WD 2-8-0s were based on the Stanier 8F 2-8-0s of the LMS and, when built, were designed for short-term use and produced from 1943 for minimum cost, with an originally anticipated working lifespan of just two years! Intended for use overseas, some 935 had been built by the end of the war. During the build-up to D-Day many of the locos were loaned to Britain's railways, after which all bar three were sent abroad. Of these 932 locos some 735 returned to Britain where two were kept by the Army for use at Longmoor, 108 were placed in store and the remainder loaned to Britains's railways (in dire straits by the end of the war) once again.

In 1946 the LNER bought 200 of them from the War Department and a further 533 locomotives were taken over by British Railways in early 1949, some of which had been on loan to the Southern Railway since some time after the end of the war, although exactly when that began seems to be a bit of a mystery, though 1947 has been suggested.

The available notes on the subject suggest that the Southern had, at one time or another, a total of 49 allocated and that they were spread across the three sections indiscriminately. Those notes cover the period 1949 - 1951 when the last one was transferred to the Midland Region of British Railways. It's been suggested that they didn't find the universal favour in the south that they enjoyed north of the Thames simply because the volumes of traffic didn't justify their continued patronage.

The WDs are renowned for their ability to trundle loose coupled goods trains around the country at modest speeds but the Southern allocation enjoyed one claim to fame in that they occasionally took on passenger train workings from which there is photographic evidence of their use in that rôle. Known images show 90552, a Bricklayers Arms based loco, working the 3:28pm Haywards Heath to London Bridge via Horsted Keynes and Oxted on 5th August 1949 in a shot credited to the late Len's of Sutton. Note that it was bearing its BR number by that time. The caption to that picture states that this train was worked by a WD on two other occasions within that month. Also known is a picture by the late S.C.Nash which features 77101 standing at platform 7 at Lewes whilst working an Eastbourne to Brighton ECS service. The rider to that caption states:
"WD 2-8-0s did occasionally appear on passenger trains - in the summer of 1949 they more than once worked the 3.28 p.m. Haywards Heath - London Bridge via East Grinstead".