Between October 1893 and August 1898, the WAGR took delivery of 24 K class locomotives from Neilson & Co. They entered service on the Eastern Railway between Midland Junction and Northam. In 1902, they were displaced from this work by the F class. They then mainly operated freight services on the Collie line and within Perth, although they did operate Royal Perth Show and raceday special passenger services.[2]
In 1915, two were repowered with superheated boilers. A further three followed, but all were converted back by 1937. Further reboilerings increased tractive effort by over 5,100 lbf (22.69 kN).[2]
Six examples originally intended for the WAGR were purchased by the British Government and sent to South Africa to ease a shortage encountered by the Imperial Military Railways resulting from the Boer War, where they became the C class.
