This locomotive was built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow in 1945 for the South African Railways.
For details of class 15F go to Class 15F
In 1947 the locomotive was one of the locomotives chosen to haul the Royal Train conveying the Royal Family (King George VI, his wife Queen Elizabeth and his two daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret).
Locomotives carrying names in South Africa was rare but in 1945 the Minister of Transport instructed that a number of class 15F and class 23 locomotives should be named after various South African cities and towns. The nameplates were fitted to the sides of the smokebox or to the elephant ear smoke deflectors of engines chosen to carry names which were displayed in both official languages in use at that time (Afrikaans and English).
The locomotive was taken out of service with the South African Railways in 1988. It was then kept as a reserve by then-Spoornet and although not in use, it underwent boiler steam testing for four consecutive years, until use of steam traction officially ended in 1992.
The restoration of this locomotive was the first major project attempted by Reefstreamers in 1992. The work required proved to be taking too long as the organisation need to have a working locomotive on a short timescale in order to generate funds. As a result 3046 was but to one side and stored under cover in a partially restored state for 15 years.
In 2009 the locomotive was finally restored to working order and at this time carried the name Janine after the daughter of one of the Reefsteamers volunteer firemen. The locomotive has also carried the name Germiston.
The locomotive operated successfully for a number of years hauling charter trains from Johannesburg. Reefstreamers had started to operating charter trains on the national network in 1995.
In December 2019 It was announced that Reefstreamers was closing due to a lack of financial backing or funding and the problems associated with dealing with Government agencies proving too much.
For some time it was used by the Reefstreamers to haul tourist trains from Johannesburg Metropolis to the village of Magaliesburg. The Reefstraemers organisation was largely run by volunteers and began.
Reefstreamers demonstrated their ability to restore, maintain and repair the locomotives which haul the charter trains. and in December 2019 it was announced that Reefstreamers was shutting down.
The locomotive is believed to be still based at the Germiston Locomotive Depot.
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