[1] With the construction of a national network under Julius Vogel's "Great Public Works" scheme came the requirement of motive power.

[2] Once main lines were open, the class was utilized to haul general freight and passenger trains, but it was quickly superseded by new locomotives that were larger and more powerful, with greater coal and water capacity.

As the class was used all around the country, from the Kumeu-Riverhead Section north of Auckland to the under-construction Seddonville Branch in Westland, they acquired a range of numbers.

By the start of the 20th century, some of the class, too small for the national network, had been sold to operators of private industrial lines.

Another C, Dübs 803, was recovered in 1993, from where it had been dumped in the Buller Gorge, Westland and was with the Westport Railway Preservation Society, whose goal was to return it to operating condition.