 With their light axle load and express passenger speed, the DD was also an ideal choice as motive power for the Victorian Railways Commissioner's train (used to carry the VR Commissioners on inspection tours to every corner of the VR network).In January 1917, Commissioners' locomotive No.100, a 2-4-0 built in 1872, was scrapped and replaced with the brand new DD 980 from Thompsons Foundry in Castlemaine.