In 1877, a seven-man commission was set up in the colony of Natal for the administration of the port of Durban, which was to coordinate the further development of the systems and processes for the increasing transport volume. Locomotives from the Natal Government Railways were previously used on the port's tracks when required, but no own locomotives existed. For this reason, a single shunting locomotive with a 0-6-0T wheel arrangement was ordered from Hunslet in Leeds, which was delivered in 1879. It was named after John Milne, an engineer who played an important role in the port's history.

The locomotive weighed almost 20 tonnes, carried a maximum of 1,680 pounds of coal in the driver's cab and held 450 gallons of water in a saddle tank. It had 36-inch wheels and a very short wheelbase. It was in service in the port of Durban for many years and was only supplemented by a second locomotive around the turn of the century. It is no longer possible to determine exactly when its service life ended. However, this must have been no later than 1912, since it no longer appeared in the lists of the South African Railways and must therefore have been either sold or scrapped before then.

The Port of Durban's first shunter was procured by the Port Commission in 1879, but that commission was abolished in 1894. The tasks were later transferred to a seven-member commission, which belonged to the government of Natal. This again ordered a single six-coupled tank locomotive. This was also imported from Leeds, but this time by Hudswell, Clarke and Co.

The six-coupled engine was named after Edward Innes, who was the first Durban port engineer appointed by the old commission from 1881 until his death in 1887. It was a commercial tank locomotive without any special adjustments for the customer. In contrast to the “John Milne” it had side water tanks and significantly larger reserves, but was about the same in terms of empty weight. When the inventories of the three former colonial railways were recorded in 1912, the “Edward Innes” was still included. However, as it was listed as an internal port shunter, it did not appear in the South African Railways numbering plan. It was used until 1923 and was then immediately scrapped. It outlived the other two engines that were ordered after it: in 1902 a four-coupled locomotive with a saddle tank and named “Congella” and in 1904 a six-coupled locomotive from Hunslet named “Sir Albert”.

In 1902, the Port Authority of East London in South Africa had two shunting locomotives built by Hunslet in Leeds for the port facilities. The track systems there had a gauge of 3 ft 6 in, which was used on mainline railways throughout the Cape of Good Hope. These were light tank locomotives with a 0-6-0ST wheel arrangement and very small wheels and a comparatively long wheelbase. The axle load was unevenly distributed, amounting to 8 LT 2 cwt, 6 LT 5 cwt and 5 LT 7 cwt for the first, second and third axle respectively with the curb weight. Even when the locomotive was loaded, the distribution of the axle loads should have hardly changed, since the water on the boiler was in a saddle tank and only 15 cwt of coal could be carried at the back.

As they were the only locos in East London Harbour, they were numbered 1 and 2. When the port railways were incorporated into the Cape Government Railways on January 1, 1909, the locomotives were given the numbers 1027 and 1028. Just two years later, when the South African Union was founded, the locomotives came to the newly founded South African Railways. The company numbers were soon preceded by a zero, which meant that they were to be considered obsolete, but nevertheless remained in use. They remained so for more than two decades, until finally being phased out in the 1930s.