The locomotives bore plates inscribed "SS ZAR" for Staats-Spoorwegen Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek and were named J.S. Smit, J.J. Spier, L.S. Meyer and C. Birkenstock, all personalities of note in the ZAR.
In 1895, at the time a concession was granted by the ZAR government to Hendrik Jacobus Schoeman for the construction of the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway, J.S. Smit was the Railway Commissioner of the ZAR [REF].