This locomotive was built by the Avonside Engine Company in 1900 at Bristol and supplied to the East Greta Coal Company where it ran as No 2.
In 1918 the mining companies of Hebburn Ltd and the East Coal Mining Company merged to form the South Maitland Railway Pty Ltd (SMR). By this time the railway network had grown to served 26 mines at various times. By the 1920s nearly half of all the coal produced in New South Wales was transported over the SMR.
Following the amalgamation of the locomotive fleet this engine continued to carry the No 2.
In 1929 the locomotive was sold to Stanford Main No.2 colliery at Paxton for use as the colliery shunter. Two years later J & A Brown acquired the colliery and its assets and the locomotive was then designated No 27.
The locomotive was then employed on shunting duties at various collieries and industrial concerns around Newcastle and the South Maitland coalfields. This included a period at then the isolated Wallarah Colliery line linking to Catherine Hill Bay jetty.
At the end of its working days, it was sent to J & A Brown’s workshop subsidiary Hexham Engineering and stored near the coal loading staiths.
In 1973, Coal & Allied Industries (successors to J & A Brown) invited tenders for disposal of their remaining steam locomotives.
This locomotive was acquired by the Hunter Valley Steam Railway & Museum, which later became the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum (DSR&M) collection.
The engine was moved from Hexham in 1975 and spent some time at their Rhondda Colliery storage site.
The locomotive is stored at Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum.
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Preserved British Steam Locomotives 