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Description
Following their introduction in 1937, Oceanic Railways had planned to create a set of streamlined variates of the Class E 4-8-4. This move was part of a larger attempt by the company to renovate it's image in the waning years of the depression in Oceanic, as streamlined, fast trains were major 'PR' events that could be used to bring up passenger levels, as well as functioning as 'traveling billboards' to advertise their speed and punctuality to the rebuilding freight market.

Earmarked at random for streamlining (with those selected being subclassed as 'Es'), they were outshopped with bullet noses and skirting along the running board. There had been ideas about skyline casings, enough that one was streamlined with a rounded, finned nose as well, but was dropped in the design phase as the additional streamlining tended to get in the way of essential maintenance, per experience with streamlined J2s.

Created in two batches, 1938-1940, and 1946-1948, the twelve strong subclass mostly wore the livery of cream and black with yellow and bluish purple bordering, considered to be OR's prime express train scheme as shown by 4465. There were oddities in the fleet, such as 4463 being painted in a kind of neon bluish purple, while another was painted in the livery used by the steam turbines, being considered at that time for use on gas and electric locomotives being put into service. Each engine in the fleet was given a name, some corresponding to the service they had been selected to work, and others with popular mythical characters of the previous century.

Not withstanding a major war (hence the break between batches), the subclass worked a litany of first-rate passenger trains across the Dominions. The first, most famous of all Oceanic trains, and most important for the subclass, was the 'Sea Isle City Limited'. When it was created in 1903 and ran in a partnership between the Great Central Railway and the Midland Railway, it was to link the major port cities of western and eastern islands and the capital of Metropolitan Oceanic with each other. Initially impossible in the early days of the railways of island-pocked 'Metro' Oceanic, technological development in architecture and infrastructure allowed for the creation of long and stable bridges between the islands, some more than a mile long. With important connections to major cities and a tight timetable to boot, the Sea Isle City Limited was the first choice in the decision to create streamlined trains in the 1930s, though the motive power at the time was deficient, mainly ran by pairs of streamlined 4-6-4s. The newly built 4-8-4s on the other had more than the necessary power needed for such trains, sometimes on weekend services running up over 20 cars (notwithstanding baggage and postal coaches).

At the top is 4465 'Night Glider' at the head of the 'Velocite' limited service, running east-west between the major cities of Portland on the isle of Fleet, and the westernmost Six Points, with the national capital Brighton as the only other stop. At the bottom is the neon-blueish 4463 'Lune Dancer' with the second section of the 'Supermarine' express. As passenger traffic tended to rise around the weekend, most of the top-end expresses (and occasionally the Limiteds) would be ran in sections, with smaller engines as longtime practice hauling the first class tickets and accommodations in the lighter first section, and larger ones pulling the remaining majority in the second and sometimes third sections.

Description
Following their introduction in 1937, Oceanic Railways had planned to create a set of streamlined variates of the Class E 4-8-4. This move was part of a larger attempt by the company to renovate it's image in the waning years of the depression in Oceanic, as streamlined, fast trains were major 'PR' events that could be used to bring up passenger levels, as well as functioning as 'traveling billboards' to advertise their speed and punctuality to the rebuilding freight market.

Earmarked at random for streamlining (with those selected being subclassed as 'Es'), they were outshopped with bullet noses and skirting along the running board. There had been ideas about skyline casings, enough that one was streamlined with a rounded, finned nose as well, but was dropped in the design phase as the additional streamlining tended to get in the way of essential maintenance, per experience with streamlined J2s.

Created in two batches, 1938-1940, and 1946-1948, the twelve strong subclass mostly wore the livery of cream and black with yellow and bluish purple bordering, considered to be OR's prime express train scheme as shown by 4465. There were oddities in the fleet, such as 4463 being painted in a kind of neon bluish purple, while another was painted in the livery used by the steam turbines, being considered at that time for use on gas and electric locomotives being put into service. Each engine in the fleet was given a name, some corresponding to the service they had been selected to work, and others with popular mythical characters of the previous century.

Not withstanding a major war (hence the break between batches), the subclass worked a litany of first-rate passenger trains across the Dominions. The first, most famous of all Oceanic trains, and most important for the subclass, was the 'Sea Isle City Limited'. When it was created in 1903 and ran in a partnership between the Great Central Railway and the Midland Railway, it was to link the major port cities of western and eastern islands and the capital of Metropolitan Oceanic with each other. Initially impossible in the early days of the railways of island-pocked 'Metro' Oceanic, technological development in architecture and infrastructure allowed for the creation of long and stable bridges between the islands, some more than a mile long. With important connections to major cities and a tight timetable to boot, the Sea Isle City Limited was the first choice in the decision to create streamlined trains in the 1930s, though the motive power at the time was deficient, mainly ran by pairs of streamlined 4-6-4s. The newly built 4-8-4s on the other had more than the necessary power needed for such trains, sometimes on weekend services running up over 20 cars (notwithstanding baggage and postal coaches).

At the top is 4465 'Night Glider' at the head of the 'Velocite' limited service, running east-west between the major cities of Portland on the isle of Fleet, and the westernmost Six Points, with the national capital Brighton as the only other stop. At the bottom is the neon-blueish 4463 'Lune Dancer' with the second section of the 'Supermarine' express. As passenger traffic tended to rise around the weekend, most of the top-end expresses (and occasionally the Limiteds) would be ran in sections, with smaller engines as longtime practice hauling the first class tickets and accommodations in the lighter first section, and larger ones pulling the remaining majority in the second and sometimes third sections.