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.