By 1891 the Eastern Railway's (ER) motive power was in such a state with British manufacturers taking so long to produce locomotives that the Engineer-in-Chief of the ER, C. Y. O'Connor essentially begged the NZR for stock. As a favour, the NZR sold three of their S class Nos—215 - 217 to the WAGR, becoming Nos—25 - 27.
By 1900 the motive power shortage had reclined and the I class became surplus to requirements with all three locos withdrawn that year and scrapped.