Locomotive 2705 is a 2-6-0 tender locomotive, built in 1913 by The Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd of Leeds, England.  

It was one of eight built by Hunslet for railway construction work to be carried out by the Public Works Department. When they arrived in Sydney, they were allocated numbers PWD 1 – 8 and were used for railway construction on the North Coast of NSW and in the south of the state. In 1917, the NSW railways became the constructing authority (instead of the Public Works Department), and these locomotives became the G class with numbers 1204-1211.   

They were soon used at various railway locations in NSW including Port Waratah coal traffic, local goods trains at Enfield and Eveleigh and local work in the Lismore region. In 1924, with the general re-numbering of NSW locomotives, the G class became the 27 class, with numbers 2701 – 2708. They were soon found to be unsuitable for lines which included sharp curves and they were then transferred to Narrabri West locomotive depot in the North West of the state, an area which featured relatively straight branch lines. There, they worked mixed goods traffic and stock trains in the Moree, Pokataroo, Walgett, Mungindi and Boggabilla areas.      

The locomotives featured small driving wheels which limited their speed but making them quite suitable for slow goods traffic. These eight locomotives successfully dominated goods traffic in the Narrabri West-Moree area for 35 years until ‘wear-and-tear’ saw two locomotives (2702 and 2706) withdrawn and scrapped leaving the remaining six to ‘soldier on’ for a further two years.   

In 1960, the first diesel-electric locomotives arrived in the district and all of the six remaining members of the 27 class were stored out of service at Narrabri West. In 1963, four of the 27 class were cut up at Narrabri West, while 2707 was cut up at Enfield in 1966.  

The sole survivor of the 27 class was 2705.