This locomotive was built by Hudswell Clarke & Co in Leeds in 1924 for Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd (CSR) to work at its Macknade Mill in Queensland.
The Macknade Sugar Company opened a sugar plantation and the Macknade Sugar Mill in 1874 which is the oldest raw sugar mill in Australia. It is located on the banks of the Herbert River near Ingham.
Close to the mill there is a six kilometre long jetty at Lucinda which is the world’s largest sugar loading facility.
In 1963 the locomotive was fitted with a replacement boiler fabricated by Walkers Limited at Maryborough for a Fowler locomotive.
Other modifications and modernisations include the fitting of a turbogenerator and electric lighting in 1951, and conversion to oil firing in 1965.
The locomotive was last employed at the Macknade Mill in 1974 after which it was placed in store.
Along with other steam locomotives at the end of steam operation the CSR donated the locomotive to the Van Diemen Light Railway Society (VDLRS) and displayed at their museum in Don, Tasmania during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
The plans that VDLRS had to build a 2ft gauge line alongside their 3ft 6in gauge railway never materialised and the locomotive was sold in 1997 to two private owners and moved to a site near Echuca in Victoria.
The locomotive was initially placed into open storage but was later stripped down for overhaul and repair before returning to steam in 2013 using oil rather than coal as fuel.
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