Following the opening of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway the company quickly found itself in need of an additional locomotive to operate its services and allow for proper, regular maintenance for the locomotive fleet. While the company would have preferred a duplicate of it's trio of Manning Wardle 2-6-2 tank engines they were unable to obtain a locomotive quickly from a British builder and turned to the USA.
The Baldwin company were able to offer a suitable 2-foot gauge 2-4-2 tank engine for quick delivery and works number 15965 was allocated to the L&B engine. Shipped 'completely knocked down' in manageably sized pieces for assembly at Pilton shed (Barnstable) the locomotive was steamed in July 1898 and named LYN. The locomotive was of typical US design and construction with bar frames and boiler mounted sand domes. Receiving a new boiler of British construction in 1907 LYN remained in service until near the end of the Lynton line, having passed into the ownership of the Southern Railway in 1923. Sadly, despite investments in the line made by the Southern, traffic declined on the narrow gauge railway and the line was closed in 1935 and the locomotive was scrapped.
Today an active group of volunteers have reopened a section of the line at Woody Bay near Lynton, with a short section of the L&B restored and operated with steam and diesel locomotives. Currently the group have a project underway constructing a replica of LYN for service on the heritage line.