Locomotive 3016 was built, as 4459, by Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester, England, and Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Sydney, for the New South Wales Government Railways. It entered service on 28th October 1903 as Locomotive 651, one of the first 35 of 145 S636 class tank engines in use on the Sydney suburban rail network. These engines became the (C)30 class in the 1924 renumbering scheme.
Electrification of the Sydney metropolitan network commenced in 1926. 3016 was one of 77 30 class engines that was converted in 1930 for use on country branch lines. As a 4-6-0 tender engine, 3016 was further modified in 1941 with a superheated boiler and pistons instead of slide valves. Now known as 3016T, it serviced Narrandera, Cowra, Goulburn, Dubbo, Werris Creek and Temora. Records of the day state that it covered 3,253,120km in 69 years of faithful service, the highest amount of its class.
3016 was withdrawn from service in February 1972 and donated to the Parramatta Rotary Club for its Steam Train and Railway Preservation Society.
