The locomotive, named “Natal”, was the first to see commercial service in what is now South Africa. It was manufactured in Leeds by a company called Carrett, Marshall & Company and then shipped to Durban in disassembled form. A standard gauge railway already existed there, on which freight and passenger trains were pulled by oxen. After assembly, the locomotive was sent on a test run on June 23, 1860 and inaugurated on June 26. It was a 0-4-0 tank locomotive with a load-bearing outer frame, a water tank under the boiler and an unprotected platform as footplate. The coal was housed in a box on the footplate. 

The “Natal” was reinforced five years later by the “Durban”, which was also a two-axle tank locomotive. It did, however, have a saddle tank and a goggle-shaped weather shield at the front of the cab. They were the only two locomotives on the Natal Railway Company for most of the time, but after the 1867 enlargement the line was only nine kilometers long. The founding of the Natal Government Railways in 1875 heralded the end of the two locomotives because an agreement was reached with the railway of the Cape of Good Hope and the decision was made to use the track gauge of 3 ft 6 in in future to connect the networks. When the line was converted to this so-called Cape gauge, the locomotives were decommissioned. There are indications that the Durban may have been re-gauged to the Cape Gauge, but these are without evidence.

Later, two farmers, one after the other, tried to use the Natal as a stationary powerplant for a sawmill and a sugar mill. However, these plans had to be abandoned as local workers became defensive about this “devil's machine”. The farm's new owner got rid of the devil's machine by burying it in the bed of the Mzimvubu River, rendering it harmless. It was rediscovered and excavated in 1944. Since many parts were destroyed or lost, they were replicated and the locomotive reassembled as a display piece for Durban station. Even when the station was moved to a place two kilometers away, the locomotive was taken with it, so that it can still be seen today.

In 1875 the Natal Railway Company ordered a heavier third engine from Kitson and Company in Leeds, where the “Durban” had been built ten years earlier. With a 4-4-0T wheel arrangement, the new locomotive was significantly heavier than the first locomotives and had a cab in addition to conventional lateral water tanks. It arrived in Durban on January 10, 1876 and was christened “Perseverance”. It had three almost identical sister locomotives that were built for the Trinidad Government Railway.

Before the “Perseverance” entered service, the Natal Government Railways had already been established and so on 1st January, 1877 the locomotive became government property for a payment of £40,000 along with the other two locomotives and all other properties of the Natal Railway Company. For a short time it was used together with its predecessors on the line and mainly transported stone from the quarry to the port. With the gauge change, the use of the “Perseverance” on the rails came to an end, but it remained in the possession of the railway company. They used it in their workshops in Durban until 1887 to drive a sawmill and then scrapped it.

In 1904, the Natal Government Railways procured a total of 50 class B locomotives for the main line, which has a gradient of up to 1 in 30. These had the wheel arrangement 4-8-0 and delivered sufficient power for the required tasks. For faster passenger trains, however, the locomotives were not smooth running due to the overhang behind the last coupled axle. 

For this reason, the chief engineer D.A. Hendrie fitted six pieces of the class with an additional trailing axle, which was in a Bissel frame. This was the world's first tender locomotive with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement. In contrast, the American 4-8-2 “Mountain” had evolved from the 4-6-2 “Pacific” around 1910, but too served the purpose of hauling heavy passenger trains on mountain routes.

With the formation of the South African Railways, the converted locos became class 1B while the originals were classified as class 1. After new locomotives took over the tasks of class 1B in the second half of the 1920s, the trailing axles were removed again and the locomotives were thus restored to their original condition. They were now used together with the other class 1 locomotives in shunting service and were only completely retired until 1975. One example, which was in use at a sugar mill until 1984, still exists today.

The first of the 101 units of the NGR Class C 4-10-2T, the so-called “Reid Tenwheelers”, were moved to shunting service just ten years after they were put into service. With the tighter curves there, it was quickly noticed that the five coupled axles were an obstacle. Thus, starting in 1909, the fifth coupled axle was removed from a total of five locomotives. The resulting locomotives with the wheel arrangement 4-8-2T were still designated as Class C by the NGR.

After the formation of South African Railways, the original locomotives became the class H and the rebuilt ones became the H2. Three more were rebuilt by the SAR and also redesignated to class H2. Others were later rebuilt, but continued to be referred to as class H. In 1964, 14 of the rebuilt locomotives were still in service. A few were used in the Durban area until 1977, as they fit better under the old coaling appiances there than other steam locomotives.

No. 8, built as 2-6-0T

collection R.V. Conyngham

Shortly after the changeover to cape gauge, the NGR ordered seven tank locomotives with a 2-6-0T wheel arrangement. They were quickly converted to the 4-6-0T wheel arrangement and all 30 others were built with this wheel arrangement ex works. Some of them were used with additional water tenders to increase the range. Two were converted by Reid to 4-6-4T and one to 4-6-2T. When the SAR was founded, there were still twelve locomotives which became class C. One of the locomotives built in 1879 was sold to a power plant company and reached a service life of more than 100 years before it was declared a museum piece.