Sinembe was built in 1926 by W.G. Bagnall. It was the first of 13 identical locomotives built for the Tongaat Sugar Estates, Natal. Charles Wytock was built in 1946 and was the penultimate of the fleet (the 13th being Egolomi which is now at the North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway).
The Tongaat line closed in the mid '60s and Sinembe was put on display at the Sugar Estates entrance. Along with Charles Wytock, Sinembe was purchased and brought to Porthmadog with the intention of restoring them both to full working order.
Sinembe has left the Welsh Highland Railway. Its owner plans to restore it fully elsewhere, and hopes that maybe one day it will be able to return.
For several more years, Charles Wytock resided in a headshunt at Pen-y-Mount in a sad condition. Its owner has since moved it elsewhere, with similar hopes to restore it fully, and maybe one day it too will be able to return in working order.
Both locomotives are unusual in having marine fireboxes.