The Type XF first entered service in 1902, as tender to the forty 8th Class locomotives which were built for the Imperial Military Railways (IMR) by Neilson, Reid and Sharp, Stewart.

When the Central South African Railways (CSAR) was established from the IMR at the end of the Second Boer War, these locomotives were designated Class 8-L1.

1618, which entered service with the sole Class ME locomotive in 1912, was still on record with its as-built coal capacity and a maximum axle load of 9 long tons 14 hundredweight (9,856 kilograms).

[3] A number, when added after the letter code, indicates differences between similar tender types, such as function, wheelbase or coal bunker capacity.

Early versions of the built-up coal bunker sides were in the form of a slatted open-top cage, made of rectangular steel rods.

[2][3] From c. 1925, many Type XF tenders were completely rebuilt by the SAR by mounting a new upper structure on the existing underframe, with new water tanks and a larger coal capacity.

[2][3][6] A second version of these rebuilt tenders had a coal bunker of which the sides extended further rearwards to immediately ahead of the tank's refill manhole.

Collins DSO, who approved several of the detailed drawings for the work during his term in office as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the SAR from 1922 to 1929.