A total of four EMD G16 diesel-electric locomotives were imported by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC). The first three (Nos. 56, 57 and 58) were manufactured in 1961 by EMD in the United States, and the fourth one (No. 59). was manufactured in 1966 by Clyde Engineering in Australia. The locomotives provided decades of service until the retirement of the last one in 2021.

The KCRC’s short-lived tradition of naming its locomotives started in 1954, with the first two EMD G12s being named after the then-Hong Kong governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, and his wife, Lady Maurine. These were followed by three more EMD G12s, four G16s and one G26, each bearing the name of a significant person from the ranks of the railway’s management history.

Locomotive No. 56, “I. B. Trevor”, was named after Ivan Bernard Trevor, C.B.E., M.C., the first post-war General Manager of the KCRC. Joining the railway department in 1924 as a Traffic Assistant, Trevor rose through the ranks and made it to the department’s top position before his retirement in 1958. During World War II, he served in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) as a Captain and received a Military Cross for his gallantry and daring escape from the Sham Shui Po prisoner-of-war camp in February 1942. After the war, when the KCRC restored civilian management in 1946, Trevor was appointed General Manager. During his tenure, KCRC brought in the first diesel-electric locomotives which gradually replaced the earlier steam locomotives.