With the construction of a national network underJulius Vogel's "Great Public Works" scheme came the requirement of motive power. Train sizes at the time were small and the terrain was difficult, so the C class was ordered, ten fromNeilson and Company and six fromDübs and Company. The initial duties were to aid in the construction of lines, where thewheel arrangement of0-4-0 and the light-weight were a particular asset.[2]
Once main lines were open, the class was utilized to haul general freight and passenger trains, but it was quickly superseded by new locomotives that were larger and more powerful, with greater coal and water capacity. The class was found to be unstable at speeds higher than 15 mph (24 km/h), and by 1880 all had been converted to0-4-2 wheel arrangement.[2]
The class was numbered between C 1 and C 577. Numbering was often illogical, and locomotives changed numbers multiple times, partly because the railway network consisted of many isolated sections using different numbering schemes. As the class was used all around the country, from theKumeu-Riverhead Section north ofAuckland to the under-constructionSeddonville Branch inWestland, they acquired a range of numbers. Sometimes a locomotive on one section would have the same number as a locomotive on another, or when a locomotive was transferred to a new section it received a new number in line with that section's numbering scheme. When standard nationwide numbering was introduced, numbers were modified again.
By the start of the 20th century, some of the class, too small for the national network, had been sold to operators of private industrial lines. By the early 1920s, all had been sold, and many were used on industrial lines and bush tramways for many decades. Their small size was a considerable asset, and C 132 survived long enough to be saved for preservation. It operated on theSilver Stream Railway until December 2008 when it was taken out of service for a major overhaul. Another C, Dübs 803, was recovered in 1993, from where it had been dumped in theBuller Gorge, Westland and was with theWestport Railway Preservation Society, whose goal was to return it to operating condition.[3] It was moved from Westport to theNational Railway Museum of New Zealand in 2024.[4]
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