The first twenty members of the class were built in 1927 by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Manchester, England, for the KUR. They entered service in 1928, and, with two exceptions, were later operated by the KUR's successor, the EAR, as its 50 class.[2]
The remaining two members of the EC1 class were built and entered service in 1930, and were different in some respects. They later became the EAR's 51 class.[2]
All of the former EC1 class members were withdrawn from service in the 1950s. Most of their leading bogies (trucks) were salvaged for use in converting EAR 13 class locomotives from 4-8-2Ts to 4-8-4Ts, to address the 13 class's initial tendency to de-rail when operating in reverse.[3][4]
Patience, Kevin (1976), Steam in East Africa: a pictorial history of the railways in East Africa, 1893-1976, Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books (E.A.) Ltd, OCLC3781370, WikidataQ111363477
Patience, Kevin (1996). Steam Twilight: The last years of steam on Kenya Railways. Bahrain: Kevin Patience. OCLC37615720.