 In 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the German South West Africa colony was occupied by the Union Defence Forces.Since a large part of the territory's railway infrastructure was destroyed or damaged by retreating German forces, an urgent need arose for locomotives for use on the narrow-gauge lines in that territory.The South African Railways (SAR) therefore bought two of these Dickson-built locomotives second-hand, numbered them NG93 and NG94 and placed them in service in South West Africa (SWA).