The locomotives were imported by the BNR following the success of the earlier HSG Garratts. A total of 16 locomotives were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company Limited between 1929 and 1930. On the BNR and later Indian Railways, they were classified as the N class. Due their high hauling capacity and tractive effort, they were used to haul heavy freight trains weing up to 3000-4000 metric tons on the BNR and later on the Southeastern Railway (SER) until withdrawal. After the restructuring of the railways in the 1950s, the locomotives were transferred to the Southern eastern railway zone, and were renumbered into the 38xxx series under the All-India renumbering plan. They are the heaviest locomotives which operated in India with a weight of 234 metric tons. With their increasing age and with dieselification and electrification of the railway, they were relegated to haul smaller passenger and freight trains. Also they became outdated after the introduction of newer steam locomotives such as the
Indian locomotive class WG and
Indian locomotive class WP. They also became less economical due to their large coal need. By 1970, most of them had been withdrawn from service and used for shunting and the units were slowly scrapped. They were withdrawn in the 1970s. Two units out of the 16 built, survive: 811 and 815. 815 is housed at the
National Railway Museum of New Delhi. In 2006, Garratt 811 of Kharagpur workshop was returned to working order and used on a few runs before being stored again. Many parts were borrowed from class member 815 at the
National Rail Museum of India in order to achieve this. The parts were later returned and refitted to 815, which was given a cosmetic overhaul. In 2018 a second attempt to return 811 to working order was made; this time all missing parts were fabricated in a US$400,000 refurbishment that was put out to public tender. The locomotive had one test run in late 2019, and has not ran as of 2025. ==Design==