The demands of the locomotive maintenance schedule together with the restricted capacity at both Miles Platting and Bury meant that most of the new locomotives had to be bought from outside firms, and these included some that were not of Barton Wright's own design. In 1876, Sharp, Stewart & Co. were building a batch of thirty 0-4-2 locomotives for the Great Northern Railway (GNR), to the design of Patrick Stirling, the GNR locomotive superintendent; but after twelve had been delivered to the GNR, the next eight were sold (with the permission of the GNR) directly to the LYR instead, where they became the 605 class; and Sharp, Stewart subsequently supplied the GNR with the last ten of their original order, plus a further eight to make up the shortfall. On the GNR, they were intended for mixed-traffic duties (and later formed Class F2), but the LYR mainly used them on express passenger trains. There were also several small 0-4-0ST for shunting, of various types, bought between 1882 and 1885. Barton Wright also rebuilt some of the locomotives of his predecessors, giving them a longer life.
