 Designed by Chief Mechanical Engineer W. M. Shannon, the C class was the first goods locomotive designed and built entirely in-house by the Victorian Railways Newport Workshops, following on from the successful Dd and A2 class passenger locomotives.When class leader C 1 was introduced in 1918, it was the heaviest and most powerful steam locomotive in Australia.It had been necessary for Victorian Railways to strengthen bridges at Dudley Street, North Melbourne and along the lines to Woodend and Seymour on which the new locomotive was expected to run.