In 1959, the South Australian Railways placed an order for 10 Alco DL531 locomotives for use in light freight haulage, especially on branch lines where a low axle load was essential.

Australian National transferred five back to South Australia while two were sold to Silverton Rail and shipped to Broken Hill.

All were included in the sale of the business to Pacific National in February 2004, ending up in storage during the first few years of ownership under PN.

[7] When Australian Railroad Group was dissolved, 852 passed to QR National (later Aurizon), while the other 830s and 900 class rebuilds went to Genesee and Wyoming Australia.

The remaining ex-GWA 830s and 900s passed to Aurizon in 2022 as part of their purchase of One Rail Australia (GWA's successor).