 The WF class was designed primarily for suburban duties, although the class saw a wider sphere of operations; during their early years several ran main-line trains in Taranaki for a time before being replaced by larger engines.Four were later dispatched to Nelson, while seven others (numbers 389/90/93/98/432/34/68) were sent at various times to the Picton Section between 1915 and 1936.By the time of the final Picton transfer in 1936 there were six engines - the seventh, WF 398, had been returned to the North Island three years previously in 1933.