In 1947, Vulcan Foundry built the first 20 locomotives of the River class for the Nigerian Railways. These were 2-8-2 freight locomotives ordered to cope with the rapidly increasing post-war traffic, what most of all included peanuts. The Hulson-Tuyere grate had an area of 38 square feet, what was suitable for low-calorific coal from Nigeria. The leading and trailing axles had roller bearings. The tender had a capacity of 4,000 gallons of water and ten tons of coal.

Until 1954, more batches were ordered from Vulcan Foundry and North British. One order in 1953 for 15 that was to come from Vulcan Foundry was instead built by Henschel in Germany. The last batch of 30 built by Vulcan Foundry in 1954 also had roller bearings on the driving axles. These were the last steam locomotives placed into service by the Nigerian Railways. Some were later converted to burn oil. Similar locomotives were built for Malawi and East Africa.